Honestly, Regulus was a little glad. Content even.
He had been struggling for so long, running for so long.
Maybe it was for the best, that he'll finally get to meet his friends in the afterlife.
He closed his eyes, loosening the grip on glaive as he waited for the sweet embrace of death. For the damned thing to come and claim its prize that it had so painstakingly earned.
It never came.
No impact.
No tearing of flesh.
No crushing weight dragging him under.
Nothing.
Regulus frowned.
A second passed.
Then another.
He hesitated to open his eyes, because the relentless sound of the mass of flesh that had chased him for what felt like an eternity was...
Gone.
Completely.
Like it had never even existed in the first place.
Then he realized.
"Ah.."
It was playing with him.
He had missed it initially, but when he focused, he could feel it. That faint pressure it exerted on the air, that malice that dripped out of the abomination into the world.
