Theurgy: Forsaken Oaths (Book Two)

Chapter 43 The Fear of Death

Thanatos stood in his room, alone. He sat his war scythe against the table gingerly, the necrotic power still lingering in his blade. He never thought that he would be forced to use such power against a little girl. What was she? She sensed that she was not normal, something was different, but he thought nothing of it going into the dual. Then he saw it, two souls in one body, one far more powerful, stronger than the one before it. Though Dulmont was a paladin, she could have rather easily killed him if he had not been properly prepared. Not only that, but she forced him to use that power. The power he thought only reserved for the mighty, the strong. The godslayers and their ilk. Not some little girl who barely trained to swing a stick around.

He swung his fist against the wall, making his entire room shake ever so briefly. Anger toiled, stirring avra within him.

"How dare she," he snarled. "I shall bring death upon her, I swear it."

"Death?" he heard a voice, startling him. He felt no other presence in the room, not like anything could just slip past him. But he is sure he heard someone, or something, speak. He looked about his room before his sight settled on a tall mirror in the corner of the room. Dulmont had covered it, though he doesn't remember why exactly. He was not one to use them all that often, but he had an odd feeling when he arrived that he was better off without them. But that was where the voice came from. Slowly he walked towards it, taking the cloth covering from its surface to reveal what was beneath it. William was met with the visage of Thanatos. Not himself, Thanatos, the spirit of death whose power he now wields. Black robes hung off the frame of a worn-out-looking young man. Short black hair did not hide a hauntingly beautiful face that settled somewhere between impatience and dissatisfaction. In his left hand, he held a black sword radiating with dark power, And upon his back was a great set of black raven wings. A set of chains hung from either wrist and one around his neck; the physical manifestation of what bound the two of them together.

Dulmont took a cautious step back. It hurt just looking at him, like his presence was searing his very soul from the inside out. "You're not . . . supposed to be here."

"Aren't I?" he asked. "You can not fully separate me from my duties, mortal. I do not belong to you. As long as any of you wield my abilities, I shall haunt you till your final breath."

"Damacius Concord," Dulmont said. "It's what you did to him?"

Thanatos gave no response, just a small hollow smile that infected his straight expression. "For three thousand years, I lay dormant, my purpose stripped from me yet again by you mortals. The world is infested with spirits, as inferior beings take my place. I will destroy each and every one of you till I return to my rightful place."

"You have no rightful place," Dulmont said, but he winced again, nearly falling to his knees if he didn't steady himself against the mirror's surface. It was cold to the touch, almost burning. He looked up to see Thanatos in the same position, his hand touching his own, hunched over as they stared eye to eye. "You belong to me. Your power . . . is mine forever more. I am William Dulmont."

"No mortal should wield my power," Thanatos warned. He lifted his sword and stabbed at the glass surface, the black blade leaving only a scratch on its surface, but the sound was deafening within his mind. "Neither man nor god. If you do not release me, I will destroy you. And the one after. Again and again. Degraded into a shambling husk, like all others. You will simply be another poor soul handed this ill power."

"You're wrong," Dulmont's voice wavered. "I'm chosen. I will not fall for your tricks. You will bow before my will."

Thanatos gave only a brief pause, that careless expression across his face seeming to take his words in. Then, his eyes flared with an intensity that threatened to knock him off his feet. His sword raised over his head, prepared to strength. "Then you shall die."