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Lambert's eyes follow the heavy axe as it rises in the executioner's hands. Their siblings head bowed before the bishops, their neck placed on the chopping block.
They made a stupid mistake. The twins trusted someone they shouldn't have and got caught. Now Lambert had to watch on as two became one, their own end awaiting them shortly after their twins.
The axe swung down and time slowed as Lambari's head got cleaved from their body. Lambert watched on in silent despair as their twins head bounced off the blood soaked cobblestone and rolled down its light decline. Silence turned to screams as Lambert felt a piece of themselves die as their siblings' lifeless eyes bore into their own.
Their lifelong companion, gone. One second was all it took to separate them entirely.
Lambert's heart beat slowly in their hollow chest, numb fear and hatred sparking in their decaying soul.
They had nothing left to give.
Maybe Ma, Pa and Bari will greet them on the other side.
The cultist holding Lambert's chains gave them a kick onto the back. They stumbled over a raised stone and tried to catch themselves with their outstretched hands. Their cuffs caught on the chains linked to their collar and they landed face first on the sacrificial pentagram. Dull pain shot through their head and wrists.
The executioner chuckled and lifted Lambert by the wool on their head. They groaned in pain and were unceremoniously tossed onto the chopping block.
The blood left from their twins' decapitation was still warm against their cheek. Lambari's body laid shoved aside to their right and fresh tears leaked from their eyes as they watched the red puddle under their body grow larger. A golden glint drowned in the sea of crimson. Their mothers amulet, now stained with death.
“Before us stand the last of its kind.” A booming voice spoke.
Lambert lifted their head and looked into the faces of the cruel gods who murdered their entire species.
“All others we have hunted down and put to the blade.” The large red frog of famine gloated.
Ma, Pa, Bari.
“With this last sacrifice, the prophecy will be impossible to fulfill.” Whimpered the loud, squeaky voice of the squid of pestilence.
I'm sorry.
“The heretic who lies bound below will be condemned to eternal captivity.” growled the foliage covered burrowing worm of chaos.
I'll be with you all again soon.
“And the Old Faith shall be preserved.” Hissed the voice of the soothsaying spider of War.
The last thing Lambert saw before their mortal life was ended in the name of gods they despised, was their tears mixing with the red blood of their twin.
At least death came swiftly.
《---》
Their eyes snapped open surrounded by blinding white light.
Lambert gasped for breath but no air filled their lungs. Panic spread through their veins until they realized that even though they could not breath, there was no burning in their airways.
Their mind slowly settled and they noticed their environment. The pentagram drawn in blood on crooked cobblestone was still under them, but the rest of the world seemed swallowed by gentle white clouds and fog. Occasionally a crude red cross made of wood emerged between the white and large chains grew like trees from the ground, their destination unknown and heigh above.
What a strange place they've found themselves inside of.
Lambert was still bound by chains, but all mortal hurt had vanished from their body.
In the distance they saw a large blurry shape. They stepped off the pentagram and hesitantly walked closer towards it.
An echoing voice spoke from afar. “Do we have a deal?”
Meek and exhausted, a familiar voice questioned back. “Will I need to kill the Bishops?”
Lambari's form was barely visible beyond the fog. Lambert wanted to call out to their twin, but their throat only let a gasp out. They walked as fast as their chained feet allowed them to. Lambari was right there!
“Your blade will cut their traitorous hearts from their godly flesh.”
“Then I accept.”
Something left the hand of the unknown devine and settled on top of their twins head.
A sudden shock of power surged through Lambert's body and their self became weightless.
Their chains crumbed to dust and a black band with a golden bell settled around their neck as blood red fabric fell from their shoulders.
The blinding white light of this strange place overtook their vision.
A moment passed in blind weightlessness.
As the light in their eyes dimmed, they blinked rapidly.
Gone were the clouds, the fog and the chains. Back were the dark stone pillars of the temple Lambert thought would be their final resting place.
A real breath was hastily gulped down. Their lungs hungered for air again.
Lambert turned their head and looked into the conflicted gaze of their twin. Eyes clear and searching and alive!
Nothing held them back from clasping them in their arms.
Except the cultists that still stood guard at the entrance to the temple.
The savages pointed their halberds at the reanimated Lambs and charged with aggressive shouting.
Lambert hesitated, Lambari did not.
Something black and red snaked down their arm and warped into a sword. Clean metal reflected the sparks of torchlight still left inside of the temple.
The fight was short lived.
Lambari sidstepped the first attack and skewered the cultist on the right. They flung the lifeless body into the other one and the cloaked figure stumbled with the extra weight. Their siblings' swords cut almost effortlessly through their neck.
Lambert hurried over to their side and finally embraced their twin.
In Lambari's hand the strange sword lost its shape again and snaked back up their arm until it settled into a black crown hovering over their heads again. Its red eye observing its surroundings uncaring.
Lambari's arms pressed them to their chest. A shuddering intake of breath rang in Lambert's ear.
Whatever just happened, Lambert thanked the unknown god in the white wasteland that they got their missing piece back.