Dubhra didn’t hesitate, they didn’t know where that energy with which they stormed through the castle halls came from. They were looking for Midas, the weight of sleepless hours long forgotten, every step echoed with a determination they were pretty sure they had never possessed.

Having spent the whole night buried in ancient books and faded scrolls, their eyes were still burning and red, their steel hands, stained with ink, trembled from the exhaustion and the rush of adrenaline. The ghost of a smile tracing stained face.

They entered the main room finally, after looking around anywhere and there she was, standing near the throne.

The space was a hollow echo of its former glory, once it held power and ceremony, but it had stood untouched for years.

Now, dust clung to the towering columns and weapons lined every wall, blades rested where once hunted tapestries, spears threatened against the ancient stone, shields were stacked in piles where the servants once whispered.

The same throne, that was once the seat of an emperor, peeked timidly, barely behind crates of armor and racks of different sized maces. The strong smell of oiled steel and iron drowned out the ghost of incense that had long faded.

And Midas fit well, in all that pile of weapons, she drew light to herself, or at least that was what Dubhra saw.

They stood there, admiring her for a brief moment, before realizing that she was, in fact, securing her armor.

They walked carefully close to her, tears threatening to stain their bony cheeks again, but they held back.

So close to the Sun, Midas finally turned to them.

She didn’t speak and they stayed like that for a while.

Her, standing proudly with her armor on and her helmet in hand, staring at Dubhra with her most disappointed expression, looking at them and then at the book they were tightly holding into their arms.

The creature stood before her, their lips pressed together like they were holding back. They couldn't hold Midas' gaze like they always did, their tired bloodshot eyes were looking at an undefined spot on the floor.

"So, did you change your mind?" She said that as if nothing happened at all the night before and Dubhra felt their core melt into her distant words.

"I found it— I think I found a way to break the curse."

Midas exhaled slowly, Dubhra didn’t know if it was relief or if it was getting on her nerves, like they weren't trying to save her own life. "Marvelous, then crawl out of your nightgown and come with me."

She was talking nonsense, going with her? Even if they wanted to, what would her strategy be?

"No, we don't have to do this, we don't have to fight this battle and die—"

"You're wasting your breath."

It came out cold and devoid of any emotion. Looking better at her, Dubhra could have acknowledged that she had dark circles under her eyes. Not like she ever managed to sleep well at night, but she was before them looking utterly exhausted and for the first time, the creature noticed that she looked like she was wearing an armor that was not fit to her size, it felt like she was drowning in it.

"No, listen to me! We don't have to fight, we don't have to die because of this!"

"And why should I believe you?"

"Because it's the truth! I—"

Before they could try to explain, she cut them off again, eyes blazing with anger. "The truth? The truth is that you abandoned me! You turned your back on me, on everything we stood for, on everything that led me to bring you back into this world! And now you crawl to me, still spitting the same thing. Why would I care about what you have to say?"

Those words hurt like no weapon ever could, while their body might have been almost indestructible, their heart was spilling out, clouding their mind, making their limbs shake, like their own body couldn't bear the weight of all the emotions it was hiding.

"I never betrayed you! I burned this whole land to the ground, all for you!" They took a deep breath to make sure their heart wouldn't jump out their chest. "I spent the whole night trying to find a way to save you, and I did! I found it!"

Midas faltered for a split second, just enough for Dubhra to see the briefest crack in her armor, her pupils dilating, the humanity she tried so hard to bury.

But as they blinked, it vanished, the cold determination flowing back in her veins. "What are you saying, again? I already told you, didn't I? What should I do? Run away and let them laugh behind my back?”

The creature stepped closer, unwilling to back down. "You're more than this!" Their voice raw with emotion. "Don't you think that we can build something too? Something new, together?"

"Build what? What nonsense are you spitting?" Her tone was mocking, bitter. "What could we possibly build if everything we touch turns to dust? All we have is war." She did a gesture as if to shoo her thoughts away. "And I win this war, that's how it ends."

"No, that's how you end, Midas."

She froze for a second, then her expression hardened. "You never really understood, did you?"

Dubhra felt their heart shatter to a million pieces, every word strained them further from the person they held dearest in their heart, the one that had been giving a new meaning to their life, the one that they wanted to always have by their side. "No, you don't understand! You think I'm your enemy because I won't let you throw yourself into this but I…" They tried to slightly straighten their posture. "I just can't bear the thought of losing you, to see you slip from my fingers."

She finally put on her helmet.

"Then do me a favor, stay out of this and don't look."

Not look? How could they not look? How was it possible for her not to see the absolute despair in their eyes, the overflowing of devotion in their heart?

Dubhra's eyes filled with tears again, as they felt like they were still trapped in that little cell where Midas had decided to relegate them the day before. Far from her, far from the light.

The distance between them felt as vast as ever, impossible to cross.

This time the obvious sign of their suffering was worn clearly and unmistakably on their face, on their hollow, tear streaked cheeks. Their mouth twisted with the strain of forcing out words that refused to take shape. Their lips trembled, in a desperate attempt to mold the ache that was burning their core into something that so hardly tried to make sense.

If the dark comes for you, let it pierce through me first.

Their breath stuttered, uneven, as if every word clawed its way up their throat only to die on their tongue.

Nevertheless, Midas continued to drag her sharp words into their already mauled core. "I better not find you here when I come back and I will have won, don't even come looking for me."

In that moment Dubhra reached out with their long and slender limbs, only to trap the shorter lady in an embrace.

Their body shook with the force of their sobs, raw and desperate. They buried their face in the curve of her neck, black tears spilled freely on her worn armor and slithered their way down.

They clung to her with all their might, their tentacles slowly wrapping around her figure, fingers clawing to her armor as though they could have anchored themselves to her presence, now flickering like a tired candle, as if letting go would have shattered them completely.

She turned around and they felt Midas' armored arms, unsurely reaching out to reciprocate.

They held their breath for a moment, like time had frozen, she wrapped her arms around their waist and timidly caressed their back, as if trying to commit Dubhra to memory, to memorize their shape. There was a quiet hesitation in her touch, a bittersweet tenderness that spoke of farewell, still she held them, their body shaking against hers.

Not really to comfort them, but to savor them, to say goodbye without words.

"If you're still here after I come back," she turned her head slightly to whisper into their ear, "I will challenge you to a duel, the one that survives wins it all."

Dubhra's eyes widened, they let go of her for a brief moment, to look her in the eye again. "That's— impossible!"

Her eyes were tired under the helmet, but cold and unmoved.

"It's— I can't, that's complete nonsense, we have a blood deal, remember?" They freed her from their tight and desperate embrace. "If you kill me, you will die too!"

Midas didn’t reply to that, she dragged her mace with one hand and walked away towards the door.

Suddenly, a powerful wind shut both of the exits, isolating them in that throne room.

She turned to look at her creature, eyes wide with confusion.

Dubhra opened the book at the designated page and looked at her with desperate resolve. "I can't have you leave. If you’re not going to reach for my hand, I’ll have to try and drag you out."

Midas quickly stepped towards one of the huge wooden doors, her mace held by both her hands as Dubhra knelt to the ground and traced symbols in a circle with ink.

The symbols shifted, ancient and unsettling, the Empress gripped her mace and swung it towards the door, the sound of metal crashing against wood echoed through the room, while she was splintering the surface with every blow.

The air around them seemed to whisper, to shift with an invisible power, the ink on the ground shimmered in an obscure light.

Despite the chaos of the pounding door and the crashing despair in their wounded heart, Dubhra continued to read and whisper the incantation under their breath, the ritual near to its critical point.

The creature, at the center of the circle, was suddenly hit from below with rays of light, felt an intense pull dragging them to the ground, to the depths of the Earth. And so they almost faltered, unable to stand the invisible forces that were pulling them in. They looked for one last time in Midas' direction, she turned to look at them as well, eyes full of terror and uncertainty as she had already opened a huge hole into the wooden door.

Dubhra felt as if they were disintegrating, every piece that made them collapsing while their legs grew weak.

One last half lost glance at the person they loved and then they disappeared, swallowed into the portal, without leaving a trace.