//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13 - Insurmountable 
// Story: Heir to Darkness 
// by Vivid Syntax 
//------------------------------//


Present


"Stop being pathetic, son." Sombra sauntered towards Brimstone. "You're already letting yourself get distracted."

Brimstone perked up and wheeled around, slicing at the air and barely cutting a flying bola in half just before in entangled him. It had flown from the wall, and Brimstone could already see a flail rushing to Sombra's side. He whipped his head towards Sombra. "We agreed on bladed weapons!"

Sombra sneered, "And yet you still think the rules apply to me." He barked, "You weakling!" The flail spun around Sombra's head and came down towards Brimstone.

Brimstone threw up a wing out of instinct, and a moment later, he heard a loud crunch. He screamed in agony and, using his good wing, propelled himself sideways and out of the way of Sombra's follow-up.

Sombra roared, "Look at you! I use only the slightest sliver of my power, and you insist on handicapping yourself. And now you are without your primary advantage! Have you learned nothing?" The flail swung at him again.

Brimstone planted a foreleg and choked down his tears. He spun on one hoof, slicing through the spectral flail with his right wing's blades. The flail evaporated just as the sword and bola had.

"I have learned thaAAHH!" He felt a blunt pain strike his flank, and as he turned to see a spectral mace disappear, a quarterstaff knocked him on the side of the head, and he saw stars. More weapons flew at him – nun-chucks, batons, small warhammers, weapons Brimstone had never seen – and they pummeled him, leaving bruises across his chest, back, face, and hindquarters. Brimstone tried to deflect them, but soon, they overwhelmed him, and after another flurry of blows, he collapsed. He struggled to stand, but the last of his strength had left him. He could barely keep his eyes open through all the pain.

Sombra stepped slowly up to him, his armor clinking on the crystal floor. He loomed over Brimstone.

Brimstone heard a slight rattling, and he saw that Sombra's right front hoof was shaking. He looked up and met Sombra's gaze.

"You should be dead," Sombra whispered with a shaky voice. "I should have already killed you."

Brimstone tried to speak, but he couldn't.

Sombra shook his head and said with a quiver. "You really want to end this?"

Brimstone forced himself to speak. "You don't have to rule this way."

"But I do, my son. I do. There is no other way, and nopony will tell me otherwise. Not you, least of all." He swallowed hard. "Why did you never learn?" He stood closer, almost directly above Brimstone.

Brimstone weakly said, "I have learned. I have learned that–"

"No, you have not, or you would see how exposed my underside is to your right wing."

Brimstone gasped. "I will not kill you."

"A shame," Sombra said, blinking rapidly. He cast his head to the side, and his horn flared to life. "Then you will watch her die."

A cloud of dense smoke appeared near Sombra's throne. In moments, it cleared, revealing a cage, and Brimstone looked on in horror as he saw Rosewood inside.