"Andreas, we have to run. There's something I need from Julian and your mother. Please, take me to them. We should go now."

Andreas blinked. "Hey! It's Amelia, right? How have you been?"

She tugged harder. "Andy, we don't have time...hurry!"

Before she could finish, a bloated, faceless dragon crashed down among soldiers and civilians alike. The ground split beneath its weight, screams scattering into the night as the battle between Rico and Anko Mo fell into the background. The creature's grotesque bulk loomed over them, and as the cries of the dying echoed through the air, only Andreas, Amelia, Taki, Anko Mo, and Rico remained standing in its shadow.

Anko Mo bowed toward the monster. Rico ignored the gesture, his lion-like eyes burning with defiance. Amelia turned her back to the horror, clutching Andreas's hand tighter.

"I'm sorry, Andy," she whispered.

The creature lowered its faceless head. Rico staggered, then collapsed unconscious. The reek of rotting flesh rolled over the street, choking the air. Amelia dropped to her knees, covering her mouth and nose with one hand while pulling on Andreas with the other, urging him to run.

Andreas pinched his nose, fighting the urge to gag.

Yep… I should be running now.

No. If I run, we die anyway. Better to fight.

He stepped forward. "Yo! What do you want, huh? Actually what even are you?"

Amelia froze, staring at him in shock.

The creature tilted its head, its silhouette a nightmare against the dim light. Its voice was a rasping growl layered with whispers.

"I am a god. The presence of death. The liberator from suffering. Andreas, your blood holds great promise. More than mortal."

Andreas narrowed his eyes. "Blood? Speak plainly."

With a rattling motion, the god stretched out its hand. Shadows writhed at the edge of the alley, dragging a figure forward.

Julian.

He hung in the air, clothed in a Victorian coat with brass buttons and embroidered cuffs. His arms strained under strange relics:

A vase painted with an impossibly detailed tree, its branches twisting into a world of life.

Two slim blue books jutting from his pockets, their edges glowing faintly as if ink bled with starlight.

And under one arm, a statue of two dragons locked in eternal combat atop the coils of a great tree.

Julian's face was pale, his eyes wide with confusion and fear.

"Brother?" Andreas muttered, stepping forward.

The faceless god's grin split unnaturally wide.

"Artifacts of your house. Symbols of a power most mortals cannot comprehend. Your mother shields hers. Your brother… carries his like a foolish child. But you, Andreas..."

The shadows curled hungrily around the relics. "you should become my avatar. Claim greatness beyond kings."

Andreas's lips twisted in disgust. Amelia leaned close and whispered fiercely, "Don't listen to it."

"Be the strongest of kings. My divine servant," the voices hissed, overlapping in dreadful harmony. "Soon Ruthwood will be unsealed, and my power whole once more. Choose now, Andreas."

Andreas's fists clenched. His instincts screamed.

"Nah," he growled. "That sounds like a lot of copium overdose."

The god chuckled, stepping closer, its shadow pressing heavy on the world.

"Then you may die. Refuse me, and watch your family embrace what you reject. One has already accepted."

Julian looked at Andreas desperately, the vase trembling, the dragon statue humming like it was alive.

Julian dropped the artifact that looked like a vase, the hollow sound of glass striking concrete echoing like a heartbeat in the silence. It didn’t shatter, instead a dull tremor rippled through the floor, as though the object were heavier than its fragile shell suggested.

Andreas's disgust hardened into rage. With a burst of force that whipped Amelia back in a gust of wind, he lashed out with two brutal kicks severing the god's head and arm in a spray of tar-black flesh.

For a heartbeat, silence reigned.

Then the pieces quivered, knitting back together with a sound like grinding bones. The god rose taller, its form swelling, shadow spilling outward like a flood.

"Run!" Andreas thundered.

Amelia staggered to her feet, dragging Julian by the wrist. After wrapping the vase artifact he then ran with Amilia.The relics rattled in his arms as she pulled him into the labyrinth of alleys. 

Julian looked back for a moment to see his brother move in powerful and natural ways, taring and braking the creature that could itself a God, the dragon-god lunged forward, crushing stone and steel, its faceless head swiveling toward the siblings.

Andreas hurled himself into its path, his kick slamming into its chest. The impact shook the ground.

"Go!" he roared, his movements stiffening, his vision dimming as he forced distance between the beast and his fleeing family and an armor that seemed to be made of ash formed on his body.

Amelia yanked Julian around a corner, her breath ragged. "Faster! Don't look back!"

The relics pulsed and writhed in Julian's arms. He gasped, stumbling. "I… I need to help..."

"I know," Amelia hissed, pulling him harder. "But Andreas is buying us time. Don't waste it!"

Behind them, Andreas fought like a storm. his kicks hammering the god's torso. Yet the monster regenerated with every strike, oozing black sludge that hissed as it touched the ground.

The god's voice crawled through the streets, smothering the air.

"You are nothing without me. Your father knew it. His father too."

With brutal strength, it caught Andreas in one clawed arm, lifting him toward its faceless maw. Deep within its throat, a glow swelled, blue and blinding, laced with crackling lightning.

Not aimed at Andreas.

Through him. Toward the fleeing figures.

Andreas's voice rasped, defiant even as heat seared his skin.

"Fuck you… If you don't kill me, I swear I'll season every meal with your tears. Because I'm petty like that."

The god ignored his madness, jaws parting wider as the light surged,ready to lance through Andreas and obliterate the family he'd sworn to protect.