44. Death

Darius emerged from the fog, landing on his knees. He was bleeding profusely and was missing skin on most of his body. His clothes were all but gone and he seemed to have lost consciousness. The rest of the fog cleared slowly and all that remained were the body of the assassin and the beast with its head caved in.

Cerone moved quickly over to Darius and slowly laid his body down. "He's still alive. Help me move him somewhere safer." Castus took a step forward, but stopped when Zed and Wyden stopped him. "Cerone, isn't this the exact situation we were waiting for? We should let him die." Wyden spoke matter-of-factly. Cerone bit her lip and looked back to Darius.

"I can't leave him. Especially because I know somewhere deep down in him is still the Darius we once knew! Besides wouldn't the collar just consider that running away???" A tear shed from her eye as she struggled to move Darius body away from the site of the battle.

Zed took a step forward. "You know I can't hurt Darius, but ignoring him will cost us nothing. Besides we don't have to actually try to heal him. We just need to wait out his injuries.

LEAVE

HIM

TO

DIE"

Zed shouted. Strain on his childlike voice was obvious, but what he said made sense. Wyden stepped forward this time. "Cerone, we won't get another chance like this." Castus could see Cerone's resolve swinging back and forth like a pendulum. She was grasping for something, a reason to keep Darius alive. Castus knew she had been there a long time and knew Darius better than anyone else. Cerone looked down and spoke. "What if Shi and Rys are still alive here? How are we going to move around and find them without someone to take care of the monsters?" It was a desperate logic, but it had a small effect on Alyssa. Alyssa walked to her side and stood with Cerone. "Cerone is right. A human life is still a human life. Besides, we need all the help we can get down here."

This action prompted the four of them to look directly at Castus. "Castus, pick your side. What do you think we should do." Wyden spoke with narrowed eyes. Castus was torn, what could he do. He wanted badly to escape, but it also brought extreme guilt to himself thinking that Darius had to die. He just needed more time to learn enchantments, he was certain he could figure out the collars and they could escape. He stepped up next to Cerone and Alyssa. "I'm confident that I can figure out how to escape if I can learn more about enchantments. I think we should help Darius for now and escape later. It's the morally right thing to do." Castus spoke in a cheesy way, but the tenseness of the atmosphere brought legitimacy to his words.

Zed and Wyden looked at each other. "Fine, we will help him for now." Zed was obviously seriously pissed off. Together they dragged the body of Darius away from the battle and back to a small cave in a wall. They sat down and prepared a place for Darius to rest. The five of them ate in silence. Slave collars were a curious thing, Castus realized. Not once during that whole debacle had he felt that pain from the collar. He then remembered Grant's words. Did Grant's dying wish to abandon Darius allow this. He was the only one to hear it. He wasn't sure and he really didn't want to think about it for now.

"I'll take first watch." Zed spoke up. They realized they needed to sleep a little bit ago, but they realized that someone had to keep watch for something snooping around their little cave. Zed was to go first, then Castus, Alyssa, Cerone, Wyden in that order. They decided by playing rock paper scissors, something about playing that game reminded Castus of Earth. He hadn't thought of Earth in a bit and in the bit of time he had before Zed's watch was over he thought about how mundane Earth had been compared to Echon. Umbrals, super powerful humans, magic and beasts like no others. For a while Castus reminisced. He had decided it would be best to just stay up and take over Zed's shift as he didn't think he could get to sleep quickly.

Castus continued to remember his life before when movement near him cleared away the memories. Castus, looked over in the dark. It didn't seem quite time for Castus to take over watch. The movement was near the body of Darius. For a minute Castus held his breath and squinted. He was trying to pick up any movement in this dark cave. A glint of something metallic and a loud groan of pain woke up everyone.

Rolling on the ground in severe pain was Wyden. Next to him was a knife. It was obvious what had happened. Everyone crowded around Darius and looked pitifully at Wyden. The groaning boy looked pathetic rolling around.

"Wyden, what the hell are you doing?" Cerone shouted, furious at Wyden. At this point even Zed had returned from outside the cave.

Through gritted teeth Wyden managed to eek out. "I just want to be free already damnit." No one could argue with him. They all longed for freedom, but they knew better than to directly stab Darius. Castus sighed and grabbed the knife off the ground. Wyden finally seemed be released of his pain just as a pained gasp escaped Darius mouth. The horribly injured man's eyes snapped open. The group took a step back in fear when Castus noticed that Darius' expression was far softer than usual.

"Cerone. Is that you? I'm not dead yet am I?" Darius words were slow and methodical. Cerone seemed delighted though. "Of course it's me you baffoon!" She nearly squealed with delight. "Darius how are you back. The contract should have completely subjugated your soul?"

Darius winced in pain, the aftershocks of the pain seemed severe. "I'm not entirely sure, but I'm dying and soon. Listen closely. All of you. I have things to say that you need to hear." The group formed a tight circle around Darius.

"You need to escape the Ryden kingdom soon. The people here will never accept a transplant as long as your know. The church will make sure your hunted as long as you live within their sights." He paused looking deep into everyone's eyes. "Next I'm going to tell you that when I die and you claim your clave collars as your own they will automatically disengage. Do what you must to survive as long as you can in the umbral. We are only near the outer edges of the lower levels, but beasts have already reached high levels. Head towards the outer regions and stay there. It's safest." Darius winced again, clutching his chest. Fresh blood leaked around him.

Taking a number of breaths he continued. "Now this is the most important part. When you escape the Ryden kingdom, look for ruins of the past transplant society. They are considered evil and most have been locked down, but from the two I've seen there is something more at work with this world and they were trying to do something all those years ago. Something important." Darius leaned back. He had said what he needed too. Cerone got close to his side and held his hand. A smile formed on Darius' face.

"Did Grant make it?" Darius asked. Cerone shook her head no. Darius sighed. "He was a good soul. He always had a different attitude towards the transplants. I wonder if I'll get to meet him again, maybe I'll come back again."

Darius had a smile as the light faded from his eyes. Cerone started to cry. So did Alyssa and Wyden. Zed held himself together and Castus, well, he had mixed emotions. Darius was clearly a good man deep down, but Castus never knew that man. He reached up to his neck, emitting mana like Freth had taught him and for the first time in over a year, Castus felt his own neck.

He rubbed it gingerly and looked at the broken ring in his hand. He was free at last. Or at least from the church. Out of one masters hands and into another he supposed.