Even though he had been taunting the man, Soren still felt the tight grip of fear around his heart.

  All of his words had been attempts to anger the lieutenant, with the goal of throwing him off. Unfortunately for Soren, it seemed to work a little too well.

  “I’ll rip you apart, boy!!”

  He was seething with anger.

  Even though Soren had interrupted the runic sequence of his armor, this man was still far faster and stronger than him.

  Just barely avoiding one of the man’s slashes, Soren kept backing away, desperately maneuvering through the room. Thankfully the room wasn’t pitch black anymore, the runic bomb had caused a small fire to start to spread. Although it made it easier to see, it also meant he had a short window to deal with the lieutenant.

  Quickly ducking under another strike, he rolled a few feet. He was able to pull himself up rather quickly, but as he turned around another strike of them man’s silver blade flew through the air. This time Soren wasn’t able to fully avoid the strike, as the tip of the blade dug into his arm.

  ‘Dammit!! I broke the armor… How is he still moving like this? Doesn’t he get tired?’

  Backing away a bit he held his hand to his arm. The wound was fairly deep, warm blood was already trickling down his arm.

  It would have been easy to out pace him if Soren used the last of the soul in his harness, but he needed every last drop for what was to come. Now, he just needed to survive long enough for the opportunity to show itself.

  Taking a step back he stumbled, Soren had found himself backed to the large hole on the floor. Glancing at it quickly he could see that fire had already begun to spread to the lower floors of the tower, revealing large metal gears, winding staircase, and platforms below.

  Glancing back to his attacker, Soren could see him winding up another swing. Currently he was backed into a corner, avoiding the strike would be nearly impossible… He was left with one place to run to.

  ‘This is stupid even for me…’

  Uttering a curse under his breath Soren let himself fall backwards, barely avoiding the silver blade. Quickly he entered a free fall, plummeting downwards at a dangerous speed.

  Firing the hook upwards, it embedded itself into a wooden beam, stopping his fall. There was no time to slow his fall, so the sudden tension in the line caused his fall to be abruptly stopped. His arm was jerked upwards, it sent a wave of pain throughout his shoulder. It felt as though his arm had nearly been ripped off.

  ‘Agh!!’

  Gripping his shoulder tightly, Soren looked up to see the man standing over the hole, his rage filled gaze nearly burned a hole through him. Flames had already spread throughout the confines of the upper room, the rate at which it was spreading only seemed to speed up.

  Dripping cinders crept closer and closer to him. He needed to get further down, otherwise the fire would devour him along with the keeper.

  ‘That should keep him away for a bit… I just need to buy a little more time. Once the entire tower is engulfed in fire, I’ll seal him in here. Let the bastard cook while I get away. Once I get a fire going at the bottom he’ll have nowhere to go.’

  Soren couldn’t help but crack a smile, if this plan of his worked out then it would be one hell of an ego boost.

  Swinging his body back and forth, he tried to build up enough momentum to reach the small wooden platform. The cable held strong under his weight. Kicking his legs forwards and back, he nearly reached the platform.

  And just as he was about to release the hook, he suddenly felt it detach on its own.

  ‘Shit!!’

  He was sent forward, crashing into the dark wooden railing. The railing collapsed under his weight, sending splintered wood pieces in various directions.

  Letting out a pained groan, he looked upwards to where the hook had been anchored. And there it was, still firmly embedded in the wooden beam. However, only a short amount of the cable remained attached to the sleek blade.

  The other half was hanging limply from the device on his wrist.

  “How in the…”

  Just above him, slowly descending the stairs, an armored man stood staring down at him. The short silver blade in his hand was now shining with runic magic. It was incredibly hard to see but there was something around the blade. It seemed as though the air around the blade was… buzzing.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Enough running brat!”

  Rolling to his feet, Soren attempted to run down the staircase. He was only able to make it a few feet, as he was stopped by the slack cable. It seemed as though the cable had gotten caught on the broken platform. Desperately pulling his wrist away, it was to no avail… he was stuck.

  ‘No, no, no! Budge you stupid piece of…’

  A steel hand suddenly gripped him by the neck, lifting him in the air. Because of his short stature in comparison to the man, Soren’s feet were left dangling.

  Desperately, Soren reached to the dial on his harness and attempted to activate the enhancement. But before he could, the lieutenant grasped the dial, ripping it off of the harness. Along with the dial, a piece of the sequence was torn away too, leaving the harness completely useless.

  The grip around his throat tightened, preventing him from breathing. Soren desperately kicked the man with all his might, swung his fists against the pristine silver armor, and even clawed at the man’s hand. But all of this was futile, even after healing a majority of the wounds he suffered, he was still so incredibly tired.

  ‘Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Let go of me… let… me…’

  Soren felt the lulls of unconsciousness beckon him. His vision grew hazy, his flailing limbs began to slow, until they finally stopped. Hanging limply from the iron vice that was the lieutenant's hand, the persistent ringing in his ears began to soften. And soon vanished… Everything was quiet.

  ‘Ba-dum…’

  ‘Ba-dum…’

  The sound of his heart beat was all that remained, he couldn’t hear the sound of the tower slowly collapsing, nor the angered wails of the young lieutenant. It was so quiet… Peaceful.

  It was a sweet familiar embrace.

  ‘…Soren.’

  Cold, but not in the same way the winter air felt. Was he dying?

  ‘Soren…’

  It was strange. He could have sworn he heard someone. Was his life flashing before his eyes? How dreadful… Even though he had only lived a fraction of his lifespan, there were many things he didn’t wish to relive.

  ‘Soren…’

  The voice was strangely familiar. It wasn’t the keeper’s voice. No, this one was sweeter. It belonged to a young woman.

  ‘Soren!’

  The voice kept growing louder. Each time it became more and more clear.

  ‘I swear I’ve heard that voice before…’

  ‘SOREN!!’

  As if out of pure instinct, Soren’s hand shot forward to the long haired keeper. In the palm of his hand a simple line of four runes wove together out of threads of soul.

  Once formed, a large puff of orange flames manifested in his hand.

  The entirety of Soren’s forearm and the keeper's head were engulfed in fire. The iron vice released him almost immediately, and what followed was a harrowing scream.

  Landing on the floor, Soren gasped desperately for air, filling them with as much as he could. The smoke given off by the fire stung his lungs, but he did not care, he was alive… For now.

  Looking over, the armored keeper was holding his hands to his face, tripping over a shattered piece of the railing he fell to his knees. Hunching over he continued to let out wails of pure agony.

  His long greasy hair was now set ablaze. From what Soren could see the man’s face was badly burned.

  “Serves you right bastard…”

  Searing white hot pain was coursing through his arm. The puff of fire had a lot of damage to him as well. His arm was seared, blisters had formed along his arm. The pigment of his arm had shifted from its normal tan color, to a deep red.

  ‘Gah!’

  Gritting his teeth he looked over to the keeper. The man was still letting out blood curdling screams, but it seemed he was in the process of standing up.

  Pulling himself up, Soren charged towards the man. With his blistered hand he grabbed the slack cable, tightly wrapping it around the man's neck. In the struggle he caught a glimpse of the lieutenant’s face, it was deformed, charred in some places. One of his eyes had burst, the other was fixated in him.

  Finally getting the cable fully wrapped around his neck, Soren used all his remaining strength to shove the man over the broken edge of the platform.

  “Just die you ugly bastard!!”

  After a powerful shove the man was sent over, the cable suddenly being pulled taught. It nearly dragged him over as well, but holding onto a piece of the railing that was still intact, he managed to stay on the platform.

  The lieutenant was currently dangling by his neck, struggling desperately to free himself. As he did, Soren pulled the cable tighter, squeaking as much life from the man as his broken body would let him.

  Feeling the man fight back with every ounce of strength he had, Soren bit down on his teeth hard and pulled the cable tighter.

  “Die!”

  Struggling to keep himself from going over, all he could do was hold on.

  “Die!!”

  The lieutenants struggling seemed to weaken.

  “DIE!!”

  With one final pull he felt the man's body go limp.

  Breathing heavily, he looked over the edge to see the dangling corpse of the armored keeper. Reaching for the latch on the grappling hook, he unclipped it, sending both it and the body down into the dark abyss below.

  “Good riddance…”

  Reluctantly standing up, he reached into the satchel at his hip. Pulling out the last of the trinkets he had, he dropped the small device down the abyss. And soon the once pitch black abyss was illuminated by a sea of orange flames.