Eternal
Under any other circumstances you’d probably be rejoicing in Semra’s misery, but on this she is your ally and as your ally you’re not going to leave her in the lurch.
With your remaining strength you stumble over to Semra and then promptly collapse near her and grab her hand. This act causes the Emperor to laugh.
“Ha ha ha ha! What would your beloved Alison say if she saw you rolling on the floor with your svelk harlot? Let’s ask her!” the Emperor says and then another ghost appears. It’s Alison.
“I see that you’ve already forgotten me and found comfort in the arms of Semra. Now you and her make your grab for power. Why was I not worthy enough for your plan to kill the Emperor? Did you always feel that I was so weak and you ultimately held no respect for my skills?” the undead parody of Alison remarks.
“No. No. No. I’m not seeing this and even if I am, this isn’t Alison. She wouldn’t say such things. Away spirit, I will not play your games!” you shout.
“Now you dismiss me in death? I have returned and you have no loving words? You do not even make the attempt? It’s the least you could do for your failure to SAVE MY LIFE!” Alison says and she begins to utter an unearthly wail. It’s horrible and despite your best efforts, it’s starting to demoralize you. A depression begins to set in, followed by guilt, but you can’t let it get to you, because you’re too busy trying to shake Semra out of her own hell.
“Semra! Concentrate! You are Semra D’vessa! Mistress of torture and pain! You are the scourge of the lesser born and one of the greatest examples of your superior race! You don’t fear anything! You have no frailties for such things are the attributes of the weak! You have my hand! You have my strength, you…”
You breathe in and exhale hard. You never thought you’d say this, but if it’ll help…
“…have my love. Always and forever.” You say.
This last declaration causes her to snap out of her nightmare and look over at you. She breaks free of her nightmare. Meanwhile the ghostly abomination of Alison shrieks even louder at your statement before completely dissipating. Apparently your complete disregard of your true feelings for your late wife was enough to destroy it.
You and Semra begin to recover from your ordeal and get up, but this is followed by the pair of you being hit by some sort of black ray. Semra tries to cast a spell, but she’s still too weak.
You look up at the Emperor who is now standing over both of you still hitting you with the black ray. He doesn’t look young at all anymore. He doesn’t even look like how did when he was sick. He’s nearly skeletal looking. It’s obvious this battle has taken its toll on him, but it doesn’t matter because he’s still got more fight in him than either of you.
“Now look at the pair of you. On the floor writhing like the maggots you truly are. You’ve both set my plans back severely, but you’ll not stop me. The pair of you will supply me with enough energy to do what I need to do! Argh!”
You stab the Emperor in the foot with your dagger; unfortunately it doesn’t distract or give you any breathing space and instead kicks your hand away. He increases the intensity of the ray on you and Semra.
“BASTARD! YOU THINK YOUR PATHETIC WEAPONS CAN STOP ME? I AM CASIMIR OF MORTOS! EMPEROR! NECROMANCER! RULER OF THE…”
“You’re an asshole, Casimir.” Jacob remarks who stands in the entry way of the chamber and the shot from his flintlock breaches the chest of the Emperor who watches it explode in a gout of blood before his eyes. He falls backwards to the floor struggling to breathe.
“No…not…(wheeze) like this…taken down…by a (cough) fucking bean counter…(wheeze)…” the Emperor gasps and coughing up blood.
You get up as fast you’re able, retrieve your dagger from the floor and draw your sword to finish off the Emperor. Semra is still trying to gather her own strength.
You stare down at the Emperor who is already on his way to death, but intend to quicken that journey. You hold the sword to his throat and stare him in the eyes.
“Do it then… (cough) finish me off…but know this son…your will not get to enjoy your victory. (wheeze) You’ve won…nothing.”
You don’t even reply you just press the sword through his throat causing him to gurgle one last time and twitch slightly before he dies. It’s over at last.
Or at least you thought it was.
No sooner have you turned around to check on your allies, when Jacob and Semra shout at you to watch out.
You turn around just into time to see the corpse of the Emperor lift up off the ground glowing a dark red color. His eyes are rolled up into his head and his mouth drops open and a deep voice emanates from it even though it isn’t moving.
“THIS EMPIRE WILL DIE WITH ME AS WILL ALL WHO DWELL WITHIN IT. THIS IS MY FINAL CURSE FOR YOUR TREACHERY.” The corpse says and then it disintegrates before your eyes.
A great rumbling starts and parts of the ceiling start collapsing along with the floor starting to crack and break.
“You gotta be kidding me…” you remark.
“Come on we need to get the hell out of here!” Jacob exclaims.
Jacob, Semra, and you immediately run out of the Emperor’s chambers trying to avoid falling debris and big holes in the floor at the same time. Jacob manages to reach the stairs just in time for them to start crumbling.
“Come on, quickly before…”
“JACOB ABOVE YOU!” you shout, but it’s too late. Jacob is struck by a large piece of concrete followed by an even bigger piece, which crushes him completely. It also blocks off your only escape.
“Shit! Fuck! Damn it!” you curse. “Semra you can move those large slabs of stone if I join my magic with yours can’t you?”
“Not in my current drained state and not fast enough even with your help.” Semra remarks.
“Shields! We still got enough to do that!” you say.
“We’re going to have an entire palace and possibly even a whole city collapsing in on our heads. Even if our magic was strong enough to deflect such massive weight, we still have the problem of being buried alive. We’d just suffocate instead of being crushed.”
The rumbles and shakes continue to get worse and knock you and Semra to the floor. You both try to find a spot where the falling debris isn’t life threatening. Things are looking mighty bleak.
“I don’t believe it. Here I was worrying about you betraying me, but instead I’m going to die from a stupid final curse!”
“Don’t be so sure, there’s still time for me to betray you.”
Normally you wouldn’t laugh, but in this hopeless situation you can’t help but to do so.
“Heh, well hurry it up then because the rocks are going to get us both soon. This is a hell of way to die, I almost would’ve rather had the Emperor kill me. At least there would’ve been a certain honor in that.”
“What honor? You were a traitor. He probably would’ve had your name stricken from all records.” Semra says.
“Yeah…well at least it would’ve been better than being buried and crushed.”
Semra doesn’t reply to that, but what she does instead is ask you a question.
“Since we don’t have much time left, I have to ask you…did you mean it?”
Thanks your mind merge, you already know what she’s asking with that question. You also know you can’t lie to her because she’ll sense that immediately. However, you also sense it doesn’t matter if you do.
“Sure. Why not?” you say with a smile. Semra returns the smile and gives you a kiss on the cheek.
“No, you didn’t, but maybe you will for this.” She whispers in your ear. You give her strange look when she says this as she stands up. She pulls a ring out of a small bag from around her waist and puts it on.
“Hey wait, what are you doing…” you ask and then you’re suddenly struck with a paralysis from the ring and then a strange purple field envelops you. You see everything going on, but are unable to do anything about it. A sizable rock even hits you, but you feel nothing. The field is protecting you.
“Mommy loves you…always and forever. Remember this.” You hear Semra say before sound becomes muted completely and your vision goes completely black. You are able to breathe normally, but you don’t see how you can survive. You’d probably panic a lot more if a strong wave of sleep didn’t suddenly take you.
As the continuous falling rubble buries you, you sleep.
You sleep for a very long time.
With your remaining strength you stumble over to Semra and then promptly collapse near her and grab her hand. This act causes the Emperor to laugh.
“Ha ha ha ha! What would your beloved Alison say if she saw you rolling on the floor with your svelk harlot? Let’s ask her!” the Emperor says and then another ghost appears. It’s Alison.
“I see that you’ve already forgotten me and found comfort in the arms of Semra. Now you and her make your grab for power. Why was I not worthy enough for your plan to kill the Emperor? Did you always feel that I was so weak and you ultimately held no respect for my skills?” the undead parody of Alison remarks.
“No. No. No. I’m not seeing this and even if I am, this isn’t Alison. She wouldn’t say such things. Away spirit, I will not play your games!” you shout.
“Now you dismiss me in death? I have returned and you have no loving words? You do not even make the attempt? It’s the least you could do for your failure to SAVE MY LIFE!” Alison says and she begins to utter an unearthly wail. It’s horrible and despite your best efforts, it’s starting to demoralize you. A depression begins to set in, followed by guilt, but you can’t let it get to you, because you’re too busy trying to shake Semra out of her own hell.
“Semra! Concentrate! You are Semra D’vessa! Mistress of torture and pain! You are the scourge of the lesser born and one of the greatest examples of your superior race! You don’t fear anything! You have no frailties for such things are the attributes of the weak! You have my hand! You have my strength, you…”
You breathe in and exhale hard. You never thought you’d say this, but if it’ll help…
“…have my love. Always and forever.” You say.
This last declaration causes her to snap out of her nightmare and look over at you. She breaks free of her nightmare. Meanwhile the ghostly abomination of Alison shrieks even louder at your statement before completely dissipating. Apparently your complete disregard of your true feelings for your late wife was enough to destroy it.
You and Semra begin to recover from your ordeal and get up, but this is followed by the pair of you being hit by some sort of black ray. Semra tries to cast a spell, but she’s still too weak.
You look up at the Emperor who is now standing over both of you still hitting you with the black ray. He doesn’t look young at all anymore. He doesn’t even look like how did when he was sick. He’s nearly skeletal looking. It’s obvious this battle has taken its toll on him, but it doesn’t matter because he’s still got more fight in him than either of you.
“Now look at the pair of you. On the floor writhing like the maggots you truly are. You’ve both set my plans back severely, but you’ll not stop me. The pair of you will supply me with enough energy to do what I need to do! Argh!”
You stab the Emperor in the foot with your dagger; unfortunately it doesn’t distract or give you any breathing space and instead kicks your hand away. He increases the intensity of the ray on you and Semra.
“BASTARD! YOU THINK YOUR PATHETIC WEAPONS CAN STOP ME? I AM CASIMIR OF MORTOS! EMPEROR! NECROMANCER! RULER OF THE…”
“You’re an asshole, Casimir.” Jacob remarks who stands in the entry way of the chamber and the shot from his flintlock breaches the chest of the Emperor who watches it explode in a gout of blood before his eyes. He falls backwards to the floor struggling to breathe.
“No…not…(wheeze) like this…taken down…by a (cough) fucking bean counter…(wheeze)…” the Emperor gasps and coughing up blood.
You get up as fast you’re able, retrieve your dagger from the floor and draw your sword to finish off the Emperor. Semra is still trying to gather her own strength.
You stare down at the Emperor who is already on his way to death, but intend to quicken that journey. You hold the sword to his throat and stare him in the eyes.
“Do it then… (cough) finish me off…but know this son…your will not get to enjoy your victory. (wheeze) You’ve won…nothing.”
You don’t even reply you just press the sword through his throat causing him to gurgle one last time and twitch slightly before he dies. It’s over at last.
Or at least you thought it was.
No sooner have you turned around to check on your allies, when Jacob and Semra shout at you to watch out.
You turn around just into time to see the corpse of the Emperor lift up off the ground glowing a dark red color. His eyes are rolled up into his head and his mouth drops open and a deep voice emanates from it even though it isn’t moving.
“THIS EMPIRE WILL DIE WITH ME AS WILL ALL WHO DWELL WITHIN IT. THIS IS MY FINAL CURSE FOR YOUR TREACHERY.” The corpse says and then it disintegrates before your eyes.
A great rumbling starts and parts of the ceiling start collapsing along with the floor starting to crack and break.
“You gotta be kidding me…” you remark.
“Come on we need to get the hell out of here!” Jacob exclaims.
Jacob, Semra, and you immediately run out of the Emperor’s chambers trying to avoid falling debris and big holes in the floor at the same time. Jacob manages to reach the stairs just in time for them to start crumbling.
“Come on, quickly before…”
“JACOB ABOVE YOU!” you shout, but it’s too late. Jacob is struck by a large piece of concrete followed by an even bigger piece, which crushes him completely. It also blocks off your only escape.
“Shit! Fuck! Damn it!” you curse. “Semra you can move those large slabs of stone if I join my magic with yours can’t you?”
“Not in my current drained state and not fast enough even with your help.” Semra remarks.
“Shields! We still got enough to do that!” you say.
“We’re going to have an entire palace and possibly even a whole city collapsing in on our heads. Even if our magic was strong enough to deflect such massive weight, we still have the problem of being buried alive. We’d just suffocate instead of being crushed.”
The rumbles and shakes continue to get worse and knock you and Semra to the floor. You both try to find a spot where the falling debris isn’t life threatening. Things are looking mighty bleak.
“I don’t believe it. Here I was worrying about you betraying me, but instead I’m going to die from a stupid final curse!”
“Don’t be so sure, there’s still time for me to betray you.”
Normally you wouldn’t laugh, but in this hopeless situation you can’t help but to do so.
“Heh, well hurry it up then because the rocks are going to get us both soon. This is a hell of way to die, I almost would’ve rather had the Emperor kill me. At least there would’ve been a certain honor in that.”
“What honor? You were a traitor. He probably would’ve had your name stricken from all records.” Semra says.
“Yeah…well at least it would’ve been better than being buried and crushed.”
Semra doesn’t reply to that, but what she does instead is ask you a question.
“Since we don’t have much time left, I have to ask you…did you mean it?”
Thanks your mind merge, you already know what she’s asking with that question. You also know you can’t lie to her because she’ll sense that immediately. However, you also sense it doesn’t matter if you do.
“Sure. Why not?” you say with a smile. Semra returns the smile and gives you a kiss on the cheek.
“No, you didn’t, but maybe you will for this.” She whispers in your ear. You give her strange look when she says this as she stands up. She pulls a ring out of a small bag from around her waist and puts it on.
“Hey wait, what are you doing…” you ask and then you’re suddenly struck with a paralysis from the ring and then a strange purple field envelops you. You see everything going on, but are unable to do anything about it. A sizable rock even hits you, but you feel nothing. The field is protecting you.
“Mommy loves you…always and forever. Remember this.” You hear Semra say before sound becomes muted completely and your vision goes completely black. You are able to breathe normally, but you don’t see how you can survive. You’d probably panic a lot more if a strong wave of sleep didn’t suddenly take you.
As the continuous falling rubble buries you, you sleep.
You sleep for a very long time.