Around Lucian, gang members jeered and mocked as he entered, their laughter echoing like carrion birds. Yet among them, the few who had faced him earlier shifted uneasily, sweat dripping down their brows, unwilling to step too close.
"Sir, this is the man you asked us to deal with. The one who threatened your little brother," Oryx, the giant man, explained, still slightly shaken.
Unseen by them, Layla crept in after, cutting down the guards at the entrance with silent efficiency. She lingered in the shadows of the chamber, hand on her sword, eyes narrowing as she watched Lucian stand alone in the middle of the mob.
"So why have you brought him before me? Did I not tell you to pin his head on a spike outside of Roka?" The Flesh King's words dripped with annoyance as he flipped his fingers.
Lucian, already irritated at being talked around, finally spoke. "I have somewhere to be, so let's wrap this up," he said coldly.
Silence fell over the chamber. The only sound that echoed throughout the cave for a long minute was the drip drop of water.
The Flesh King leaned forward lazily. "So… you're the one who killed my men. Then thought it was wise to send me a threat after." He chuckled slightly. "Why? Do you believe me to be some common street thug?" His voice was smooth, almost amused, yet venom laced every word.
Lucian's expression didn't change. "They bothered me while I was sleeping."
The Flesh King tilted his head, lips curling with amusement. "What's your name?"
"Lucian."
The King rolled his name on his tongue like wine. "Lucian. Hm. You must not know where you stand. Flesh controls No Man's Land. Every road, every trade route, every weakling that crawls through these hills… they belong to me." His gaze sharpened. "Corrupt nobles from all three kingdoms who beg for my favor so they can sell their child slaves… the sick bastards. And beyond the kingdoms, beyond your little borders, there are powers greater still. A higher hand guiding all three kingdoms as if they were puppets. His mere play things. And that… is who I work for."
Lucian wore a blank expression. "So? What's it to me?"
The King smirked. "That, perhaps, is up to fate… IF you make it out of here alive that is. For now, you'll answer me this, why should I not kill you here and now?"
Before Lucian could answer, a voice rang out from the shadows.
"Because you owe me."
Layla stepped into the torchlight, blade drawn. Her crimson eyes burned as she faced the throne. "I practically raised you in the orphanage. I saved you more times than you can count. If there's any heart left in you, spare him" her voice softened slightly "and let this die here."
The Flesh King burst into cruel laughter. "Layla… still so naïve. You think because you gave me bread as a starving boy, I'll listen to you now? That I'll spare his life, or yours?" His face twisted. "Boys, take her. Have your fun. Get her out of my sight. And when you're done, toss her to the demon dogs."
The gang roared in delight, stepping forward.
"Tom, how could you? You used to be like a little brother to me!" Layla cried out.
The Flesh King cackled with laughter as he slammed his fist down on his throne "That face! There's nothing that gets me more aroused than a face of betrayal!"
Lucian moved without hesitation. In a blur he was in front of Layla. His Soulflame stirred faintly, flickering in the air.
The men who had faced him earlier stopped dead in their tracks, refusing to move. But those who hadn't yet tasted his soulflames aura rushed forward.
Layla shoved him back.
"Just go!" she pleaded. "I'll draw them away."
Her voice trembled as crimson Soulflame bled from her body, flickering wildly in the air.
"Go look after Amira." Her breath hitched. "She… she cares about you more than you know."
Tears spilled down her cheeks as the crimson light flared brighter.
"Promise me," she whispered.
"Promise me you'll protect her."
"Layla." Lucian's voice stayed low, steady, even as the chaos roared closer. "I don't know what possessed you to come after me… but thank you. For caring enough to try." He said as he stepped in front of her again.
He turned fully to her then, thumb brushing away the tears carving paths down her dirt-streaked cheeks. His touch lingered a heartbeat too long.
"Besides," he added, the ghost of a smile tugging at his mouth, "if Amira ever found out I left you behind… my chances of making her fall for me would be over. I'm sure you know that."
He turned back around and readied himself. "So," he said as he rolled his shoulder "I need you safe… Both of you." Layla blushed slightly as she raised her sword.
'He needs me safe? What does he mean by that?'
The flesh gang rushed forward.
Torchlight flickered across the cavernous chamber, shadows leaping like predators as the attackers surged. Lucian and Layla snapped into place, back-to-back, a single unbreakable line. Steel met steel in a deafening chorus: her blade sang high and bright, a silver arc infused with crimson soulflame slicing through the air with surgical grace; his came low and savage, heavy swings that cracked ribs like dry wood.
A thug lunged at Layla
too slow.
Her sword whipped up in a perfect crescent, severing his arm at the elbow. The limb spun away, spraying crimson in a wide arc that painted the stone wall. He screamed once, high and wet, before crumpling. Another charged Lucian head-on; Lucian's boot slammed into the man's knee, bone snapped like a branch, then his fist drove forward in a brutal thrust, punching through leather and flesh. The attacker gagged, eyes wide, as Lucian twisted his hand free with a wet suck and let the body drop.
Blood misted the air, copper-thick. Bodies piled in heaps, limbs twisted at wrong angles, chests caved from Lucian's hammer blows, throats opened by Layla's precise edges. Sparks flew when blades clashed, brief stars in the gloom, then silence swallowed the clangor as the last man staggered back, clutching a ruined shoulder.
He fell to his knees. Then forward. Face-first into pooling red.
The chamber went still except for ragged breathing.
Layla exhaled hard, chest heaving under sweat-soaked leather. Droplets slid from her brow, stung her eyes like salt water. She wiped them away with a trembling forearm, blade still gripped white-knuckled. Across from her, Lucian stood motionless, barely winded, shoulders rising slow and even. Blood dripped from the tips of his fingers.
Their eyes met.
For a heartbeat, the world narrowed to that look. No words. Just the slow scan of his gaze, down her arms, her torso, searching for red that was hers. Finding none.
She saw it then, not the monster she'd once thought he was. But a man who survived the darkest parts of the world, standing square between her and oblivion. A shield of flesh and steel. A flicker of something fierce and protective that looked almost like hope.
"Enough!" The Flesh King's voice boomed across the cavern. He raised a hand, and the few men of his who were still alive froze.
His blue eyes glinted with twisted amusement. "Impressive." He clapped his hands slowly "Instead of killing you, Lucian… I'll make you an offer. Work for me. Lead my men. With you at my side, all of No Man's Land… no, more will kneel. Together," he reached out his hand towards Lucian, his nails were yellow, long and brittle. "we'll dominate completely."
Lucian's eyes turned hollow, saying nothing.
'Oh how those same words have dripped off tongues of men in similar situations. You're all the same.'
The King leaned forward, grinning. "And as a gesture of goodwill, I'll even leave Layla out of it. Better yet, take her. A beautiful mistress fit for a general. She'll keep you warm while the world freezes over."
Layla stiffened, disgust and anger flashing across her face.
Lucian's eyes never wavered. His voice was ice. "I warned you already." He took a step forward. "If you bothered me again, I'd burn down everything you held dear…" his voice rasped, "…mercilessly."
The words cut like a blade. The survivors shifted nervously, instinctively taking a few steps back. The Flesh King, however, only smirked wider as reinforcements poured in.
"You've got a fire in you." He waved his hand to signal his men to surround them. "But fire burns out when there's no oxygen. So if you won't submit I'll make sure you run out of oxygen under my foot."
He motioned his hand. The reinforcements rushed in with the survivors.
Lucian's Soulflame erupted outward like an explosion.
The air screamed as invisible pressure crashed into the men around him. Bodies were thrown against the wall from the ground before they even realized what was happening.
Then Lucian moved.
He tore through them like a storm given flesh. An arm ripped free and spun across the dirt. A throat collapsed beneath his grip with a sickening crack. A single flick of his hand sent a head tumbling through the air before the body even realized it was dead.
Panic spread too late.
A few turned to run.
Lucian's Soulflame lashed out behind them like a grey solar flare, a blazing arc of force that sliced through their bodies as cleanly as a blade through silk. They fell in pieces before they took their third step.
To the ones remaining it was impossible to follow. One moment Lucian stood before them, the next he was gone.
All they saw was a streak of black and gray ripping through the battlefield.
Then their throats were torn out.
Their spines snapped.
And the world went dark.
Layla watched in disbelief. That a human was capable of such movements, such destructive capabilities… it was, terrifying. What one human could do with nothing but his bare hands.
By the time two-thirds of them were dead, the flesh King finally rose from his throne. The cavern trembled as his footsteps echoed.
Up close, his face emerged from the shadow. A grotesque patchwork of stitched flesh, stolen from men, demons, and beastfolk alike. His blue eyes glowed with cruel amusement.
Lucian's hand ignited with Soulflame as he turned to catch the flesh King's fist that surged toward him. Their blows collided with a thunderous crack, sending shockwaves through the chamber, shattering stone and tossing corpses like ragdolls.
The Flesh King leaned in close, grinning through the force.
"You should have left when you had the chance."