//------------------------------// // Lost chapter - Ending // Story: Secret of Five // by Yugimotou //------------------------------// The heat was becoming unbearable. Without Helios' protection, it wouldn't be long before the heat seared the flesh from Gold's bones, giving him early access to a new world. Yet still, he angled his wings, winced against the pain and plummeted downward in hot pursuit of the celestial entity he had served not a half hour before. He had no plan. He only heard Sombra's roars of resistance, and the near irresistible pull of Helios' will calling out to him. The only thing he could think to do was to reach them. To rescue them both. He knew there was likely no way he could stand up to the full might of the godly figure hell bent on granting the world salvation by rebirth, but he knew waiting for the end meekly would change nothing. Weaving between jagged rocks as the tunnel downward became narrower and narrower, Goldrush followed the familiar aura beckoning to him from beyond the flames. Of all the ones that had been branded, he perhaps bore the greatest responsibility for the warping of history. The contest was between him and Sombra - whom had once unwittingly used the influence of his brand to rewrite history in favor of having a ridiculous clause passed into legislation. The two of them had inexorably changed the fates of their friends, families, and world. And clearly, not for the better. The aura was growing stronger, and Goldrush knew he was catching up. It could easily come down to a split-second finale. Either his dive would end with fire and brimstone, or maybe he'd be able to reunite with the only one that could shield in from the flames and give him a fighting chance. Gold's life flashed before his eyes - His upbringing. His royal guard training. The incident with Sombra. The desert. The journey he had taken to save the Princess, and now what was looking to be his final venture. He knew there would be no more. Either he would preserve the world as it was and die doing so, or he would fail and die doing so. But that was fine. He'd clean up his mess, regardless of the cost. The heat was becoming unbearable now. Burns quickly developed over Gold's body, searing deeper and deeper. As his strength evaporated, Gold lost control over his descent. What was once a maintained nosedive became a feeble tumble as the heat began to reach fatal heights. His eyes seared shut, Gold held his arm in what he could only assume via momentum was the direction in which he was falling. He focused his mind as he had so often done over the past few days, calling out to the fiery beast that he had been bound to by fate. The response was faint, yet approaching. Unable to discern whether or not the light he was seeing was the arrival of his savior, or his gateway to the next world, Gold allowed himself to be swept away. The glimmering light overwhelmed his minds eye, replacing the pitch black with a radiant shine. A warmth completely unlike the burning flame that had engulfed his body shot through his senses, making the pain of his seething burns vanish in an instant. Finally able to open his eyes, Goldrush took in his surroundings with a sigh of relative belief. He was wrapped in Helios' arms, his burns quickly retreating and the fire licking at his form passing over him harmlessly. From within Helios' presence, he heard a familiar voice; Sombra. "There's probably nothing we can do, you know. But at the very least, allow me to regain a shred of my lost dignity here at the end. I'm not dying in the breast of a beast." Goldrush nodded solemnly. "This is our last hurrah" he murmured, as Helios released him, maneuvering to allow access to its back. Gold latched on as Helios spread its wings, lurching downward and closing the gap between the three and their quarry. "Sombra, did you manage to get a clear bead on that thing while you were trapped inside it?" Goldrush asked, relieved for Helios' protection allowing him breathable air again. "Oh yeah, sure. You can totally analyse a monster from within its stomach." Sombra spat, clearly disappointed that Gold had come so far with no answers to the crisis facing them. "That's not helping." Goldrush sighed. "How about you?" he murmered, patting Helios on the shoulder as gently as was possible at near terminal velocity headed for the planet's core. From within Helios, thoughts began flooding into Gold's mind. In that instant, the truth revealed but a tiny shred of hope; the beast was only complete in appearance. The servants that had guarded the branded throughout their journey were still alive, lending their bodies to create the godly form. "So then..." Goldrush began, before Sombra cut him off irritably. "Yes yes, we can destroy the individual beasts to unmake the god piece by piece. We don't have time for the facts to sink into your thick skull. Just get started!" Goldrush curled his hooves around Helios' shoulders in anger, but chose to let the affront go unrequited. There'd be an eternity for back-and-forth once this was over. "Now, how are we going to get those guardians to separate from the main body so we can destroy them?" Goldrush pined aloud. "Do I have to explain everything to you?" Sombra snarled from the unseen recesses of Helios' consciousness. "It's the same thing that let us - or rather me - to screw up the world so badly. The creatures are pulled to one another. They'll manipulate history, as well as their hosts in order to get to one another." he explained hurriedly. "Just get close - I'm sure they'll come for you. They'll either want you dead, or they'll forcibly assimilate you to get your creature to come back to them." Goldrush nodded. Sensing his resolve, Helios put even more strength into the dive, coming closer and closer to the blinding light of their target. Surely enough, the long serpentine form of Poseidon broke away from the main body, causing the Phoenix's head and left wing to evaporate. In a terrifying, lightning fast motion Poseidon had both Helios and Goldrush throttled in its coils. Helios let out a roar of surprise, then of pain as Poseidon's grip tightened. It wasn't Helios' pain that was causing it to cry out, however - Goldrush's ribs cracked almost immediately under the pressure. The pain was immense, impulses of pure agony darting through his every fiber as the tightening continued. Desperate, Helios bit down on Poseidon's slippery hide, its fangs breaking through the hardened scales of the serpent with ease, sinking deep into the flesh of the elongated monster. Poseidon's grip faltered slightly as it screeched in pain. Eager to exploit the weakness it had created, Helios autonomously loosed a gullet full of searing flames directly into the open wound. Poseidon immediately uncoiled, allowing shallow pained breath to pass through Gold's mangled chest. Not allowing a single moments reprieve for their foe, Helios pulled the serpent in, gripping its head and neck with vicious brutality. In a single, twisting motion the serpent went limp, before plummeting past the Alabaster Phoenix towards the core. Running out of time before the Phoenix reached its destination, Goldrush immediately willed Helios dip back down to lure out the next contender. Responding quickly was Soter, taking with it both of the Phoenix's legs and talons. As the vanguard charged forward, a split-second evasion by Helios allowed for a quick and definitive crunch to the neck - with a single tear, the ever-noble Soter fell from grace. The Phoenix, its center of mass compromised, began to spin out of control. Helios closed the gap once more, enticing the final surviving guardian, Ikelos, to emerge. Gold froze, shaking. As the body of the Phoenix disappeared, a gigantic shadowy Spider spread its spindly legs, bringing its descent to a stop just shy of the planet's core. "It doesn't have enough energy to go through with its plan anymore. It'll all come down to this - if it takes back Helios, the world ends." Sombra remarked, his voice growing faint as Goldrush's fear took hold. "What's your problem?" Sombra queried, snapping Gold back to his senses. "Surely you've seen it before - Ikelos takes the form of its opponents worst fear in order to trap them with their own nightmares." Gold shook out his head. "I was really, really hoping it'd forget about that gimmick in the heat of the moment." he whimpered shakily, before a blast of heat from Helios snapped him back to his senses. "I'll be fine. I have Helios with me." Goldrush affirmed to himself with a deep breath. Ikelos however, was not content to wait for its prey to overcome its fear. With a rapid scuttle, it charged towards its liberated counterpart, moving unpredictably. Helios responded with a hearty stream of spit-up magma, narrowly missing Ikelos' legs as they darted upwards, seemingly without gravity. "That's a good idea." Sombra offered. "Deal with the legs, and it'll plummet into the core and melt away before it can change form to save itself." "I wish I could take credit." Goldrush said, a meek smile creeping across his charred face as he pat Helios on the shoulder. "Keep going, partner!" Helios was happy to oblige, spitting glob after glob of burning magma towards the rapidly approaching threat. Each missed their mark as its legs moved like nightmarish shadows in Helios' peripheral vision. Unable to track its foe, Helios was swatted into the tunnel wall by an unnoticed leg, slumping down on an outcropping. Goldrush freed himself from underneath his beast as Ikelos hoisted itself over the outcropping, baring down upon its prey. Out of options, Gold shunted aside the pain spreading throughout his nearly-crushed chest, spread his wings and crashed himself into the Ikelos' cluster of eyes. "Blast it! Now!" Goldrush commanded, Helios responding with only a moments hesitation for the safety of its master. Letting loose an unquenchable torrent of flames, Helios blasted the nightmarish spider down into the miasma of flame below, Goldrush in tow. In an instant, Helios was in pursuit. As the two fragments of the Phoenix reached the core, a blinding light engulfed the cavern, rapidly rising out of the crevice to purge the world above... When Goldrush awoke, he was weightless. Floating in a sea of stars. Below him floated the planet, moments before its destruction. Looking around, Gold quickly located the Alabaster Phoenix, regarding him with silent, yet definitively sorrowful eyes. "Would you look at that?" Goldrush spun around as best he could in total weightlessness, seeing Sombra body and all for the first time in months. "Looks like we're good and dead, now. That monster reached its destination, but the world hasn't been renewed. I think you can figure out why." Sombra murmured, with a gentleness and peace to his voice previously unheard of. Gold nodded silently, turning to face the towering bird behind him. "That's not the Phoenix as it used to be. That's you, isn't it? Helios?" he muttered, the solemn reality of the situation dawning on him. The bird was silent, giving only a gentle yet sorrowful nod. "You absorbed Ikelos when you both reached the core. This means you get to make the choice." Gold choked softly, knowing full well what was going to happen. The phoenix spread its wings, its outline becoming hazy and undefined. "Why the tears?" Sombra asked, the condescending tone returning to his voice. "This is what you wanted. This is what you died for." "Y-yeah." Gold stammered, tears streaming down his face. "It's all going to go back to the way it was. Before the Clause. It's for the best, I know that. But..." "Don't falter now." Sombra commanded. "This world is better off without all of this. Without me, without these two gods showing up, and without you as you are." He explained sternly. Gold nodded, his teary eyes fixed on the rapidly dissolving god spilling untold radiance across the sky. With its last motion the Phoenix lowered its wings, wrapping Goldrush in its dispersing light. "We'll meet again Helios. I'll look for you in the next life. Wait for me."