Or'do knelt at his comrade's side, staring into eyes that saw no longer; watching as the life left Noraan. His Darksign cracked and shattered, caving as the flesh around it turned cold and dark; flowing between his ribs like sand rushing through closing fingers.
I can save him. Or'do thought. Yet it was always to end like this. His heart shuddered, ice flooding his veins. On these stones, or at the Kiln of the First Flame. He bowed his head, closing softly radiant eyes against the pain. I intended to take your life's warmth into myself from the moment we met.
Noraan groped blindly, grasping Or'do's hand and enfolding with his own. "I meant for so long to tell you." His voice was rough and fractured with pain. Already his preternatural healing had restored his spine, yet his body as a lost cause, the Darksign cracked and fading with each labored breath. "I dwelt upon these planes a hundred years-" Noraan's voice broke, blood clogging his throat. "But the only day I felt alive was the one I spent with you."
Sorrow crushed Or'do's heart in its icy wist. Those words pained him as no blow ever could. I am sorry; but you would never end the cycle, never usher in the emptiness as I must. Or'do raised his free hand, poising it over Noraan's dim, flickering Darksign.
"You gave my life purpose."
Or'do's hand shook as it drew back to strike.
"For one day the world was warm and bright," Noraan smiled despite his agony.
I have no choice.
"And that was more than I could have hoped for."
Forgive me.
Steel pealed on bone, then all fell silent.
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