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“You…you wanted us to destroy the Mothercrystals! That’s what you wanted all along!”
“You have our gratitude, Mythos,” Ultima intoned from his place in the centre of the Nexus. “In this, you have served us well. You have both served us well.”
The god’s unnerving gaze shifted towards Joshua, and Clive instinctively stepped closer to his brother.
“Eighteen years ago, we presented you with an offering, yet you did not drink your fill. It is time to fill you to the brim, Mythos, that you may serve your purpose.”
Eighteen years ago…?
No.
His worst fears were confirmed by the sound of intense coughing behind him, blood splattering on the ground. When the episode abated enough for Joshua to be able to raise his head, the fear in his eyes pierced Clive’s very soul.
“Clive…he’s trying to–”
His words were cut off by a sickening keen as the hateful crystal seal on his chest began to bleed dark aether, the spider-like shape of the wound spreading like black tendrils wrapping themselves around Joshua’s body. Clive reached his hand out, trying to grab the sinister tendrils and rip them away from Joshua, but his hand caught nothing, passing through them like mist. All the while, Joshua’s gasps and groans rang in his ears, an endless reminder that Joshua was in pain, Joshua needed his help, Joshua was–
The dark aether began to take a shape, and Clive realised he was looking at what resembled a shadow of Ultima, the fragment that Joshua carried within. It was draped over Joshua’s back like a grotesque cape, two of its arms wrapped around his body in a mockery of an embrace.
“Brother…get away!”
Joshua’s gasp came just as the shadow’s two remaining arms rose…and so did Joshua’s own, as if on command.
“Jo–”
In the next moment, Joshua’s body shot up in the air with a cry. He was whirled through the space like a puppet to the centre of the Nexus, where he floated slowly back down, feet barely touching the ground. The shadow Ultima fragment was still clinging to him…controlling him.
“Let…let him go!” Clive’s voice grew into a roar as he drew his sword and pointed it at Ultima’s main body.
“Steep yourself in that rage, Mythos,” Ultima spoke. “Evolution without conquest does not befit you. The feebleness of ice and levin cast their impurity on your power…yet a single stain need not tarnish the whole vessel. We shall ensure that this offering is claimed in the proper way, and the stubborn strand of consciousness restraining your potential is cut away.”
The shadow’s right hand moved and Joshua mimicked the action, conjuring a ball of flame.
“Claim your final prize, Mythos.”
The ball of fire blasted towards Clive, exploding against the wall when he dodged. As soon as he regained his bearings, Joshua had shifted right next to him, wielding a wreath of flame that Clive just barely managed to block with his blade. They exchanged numerous blows, Joshua pressing the attack under the shadow’s control while Clive evaded and blocked one strike after another, mind blanking.
This could not be happening. He could not possibly fight Joshua, not when the memory of Ifrit striking down the Phoenix was ever a fresh wound on his heart, not like this.
Clive tried to change the rhythm of the encounter, aiming his blows at the shadow, but it merely deflected by changing Joshua’s position so Clive had to change course at the last moment to avoid hitting him. Finally, Joshua backed down, allowing some distance between them.
“Your performance is not matched to your ability, Mythos,” Ultima said. “It appears you require a higher challenge to inspire you.”
To Clive’s horror, Joshua’s body burst into a semiprime. The heat his flames gave off could be felt throughout the chamber, yet Clive was bathed in cold sweat. He could recall Joshua’s stumbling steps as they had made their way to the Nexus, his tormented lungs rasping for air, his heart fluttering within his ribcage.
Such rampant use of aether would destroy him.
The semiprimed Phoenix came at him with a new flurry of attacks, pushing Clive onto the defensive again. The flames were much more intense now, and Clive grimaced when a well-placed sweep connected to his side, burning flesh in a way he had forgotten it was able to. Yet Clive paid little mind to the pain, his attention commanded by watching his brother’s movements. He saw attacks that had left Joshua breathless and on his knees several times during their travels, yet now the shadow deployed them in rapid succession, one after another. He dared not think of the cost.
“...ve…Clive!”
With a jolt, Clive realised he heard Joshua calling his name—yet the voice had not come from the possessed form in front of him, but from inside, much like it had in Ultima's interdimensional rift. Glancing down, he could see the Phoenix feather glowing again.
“Joshua…?”
“There isn’t much time,” Joshua’s voice spoke inside his head. “You have to do it. Strike me down and use the Phoenix’s power to defeat Ultima.”
“No,” Clive choked in response, blocking another barrage of Joshua’s attacks. “I’ll sooner die.”
In addition to all his failures, as a Shield, as a brother…to ask him to raise a hand against Joshua knowingly was anathema.
“If you fall, all of Valisthea is doomed. Our efforts to build a better world will be for naught.”
A bitter, painful thought pierced through Clive’s heart.
To hell with the world if I cannot save you.
And yet, the warmth of Joshua’s blessing refused to yield its place to the cold despair.
“Ultima means to sever our bond, to fill you with sorrow that you would break. But we will prove him wrong—show that our bond is beyond breaking.”
Clive’s eyes naturally trailed to Joshua to seek guidance, and what he saw staggered his breath. Even as he conjured another attack, Joshua’s fire illuminated his tearstained face, the blank expression and eerie yellow of his eyes under the shadow’s control belying the agony that he was fighting.
“Please, Clive. I need your help.”
Only once in his life had Clive heard that call and allowed it go unheeded. It mattered little that it had not been his choice—he had vowed to never let it happen again. No matter what.
Gritting his teeth to push aside the pain at what he was about to do, the second Dominant of Fire initiated a semiprime.
“So you finally accept your place, Mythos.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Clive spat grimly and threw a fireball at the god, who blocked such a haphazard attack with ease.
Despite the undeniable fatigue burning in his body, drawing from Ifrit’s formidable strength set a new pace for the battle. With the aether the shadow had already expended, Joshua’s body simply could not keep up with the onslaught from Clive. Not long after the true match had begun, Invictus’ flame-clad blade finally sliced the shadow apart, causing it to float upward like a sentient cloud of smoke. Reaching the centre of the chamber, it regained a solid form and fused into Ultima’s body, but Clive paid no attention to any of it—Joshua’s prime had evaporated the moment the shadow left, and Clive tossed away his weapon and dropped his own prime to catch his brother before he collapsed onto the cold floor.
“Joshua…Joshua, can you hear me?”
Joshua’s eyes were rolling in their sockets, blood trickling from his nose and the corner of his mouth.
“I’m sorry…this was the only way…”
Clive shook his head in disbelief—he had never in his life sought apologies from his brother. He took Joshua’s hand in his and opened his mouth to say so, only to freeze when he felt the unnatural stiffness beneath his fingers.
The curse.
Joshua’s body began to glow with the Phoenix’s light again, and Clive remembered what it was that Joshua had wanted him to do. A part of Clive was urged to recoil from the sensation of aether at his fingertips, to have no part in such a profound betrayal of all he ever had stood for, but he was beyond the ability to reject his brother now. He could only shake his head in desperation as tears blurred his vision, voice reduced to begging.
“Please, don’t do it, don’t…I can’t do this on my own.”
“You don’t…have to,” Joshua said. “With this, I’ll be with you…to the end…”
The Phoenix’s power flowing into him felt like slipping into a warm bed at the end of a long journey, a lover’s embrace after decades of solitude. He could feel his body recovering, soothing his wounds and invigorating his battle-worn organs from the inside. And yet, knowing that his relief came at the cost of the colour draining from Joshua’s face cut through his heart as surely as a jagged knife carving into his chest.
Joshua’s expression resembled something like awe as Clive watched the firebird’s unfurling wings reflected in his eyes. When he met Clive’s gaze again, he let out a small, aborted laugh that exposed his bloodied teeth—and somehow, still made him seem so young. It was entirely the wrong scene for such a laugh.
“One…more kiss?”
A voice embodying at once a child asking for an additional bedtime story and a man pleading for a night of passion to not end quite yet—just to steal a moment more, anything at all. Without a second thought, Clive pulled his greatest treasure close to grant whatever he could give. The taste of blood was familiar if stronger than usual, so he did not flinch as he drank from Joshua’s gasping mouth, caressing his cheek with one hand while pressing his body close with the other. He wished he had had the presence of mind to remove his gauntlets to fully appreciate the contact, but had no intention to attend to the matter.
The light of the Phoenix faded around them, and Clive noted that Joshua’s legs had gone entirely rigid against his thighs. The curse was taking its toll more quickly now that the Eikon was no longer hindering its advance. Panic fluttered in his heart and he nearly pulled away, but Joshua’s voice was echoing in his mind once more.
Don’t look. Just be with me, just for this moment…
His only answer was hands holding ever tighter. He held his brother like he could physically stop the curse taking away what was most precious, gently stroking Joshua’s face and hair even as they became stone as well. When Joshua’s mouth went cold against Clive’s lips, he dared not open his eyes to look, only pressing his face against the rigid form that used to house his brother’s warmth.
Then, the solid body in his arms turned into dust.
The finality of the situation coming to him like the flickering flame of hope suddenly going out, Clive’s eyes snapped open and his hands grasped the air futilely, but the fine stone dust in the air could not be captured in his hands.
His entire body went limp, dully staring into nothing as he watched the particles floating before him. There was no Joshua now—he would never see his smile, hear his voice, wake up from nightmares of the past only to find him sleeping soundly right next to him. There would not be a body to bury, or even a figure of stone to lay down beside while waiting for his own demise.
Somewhere above him, Ultima was speaking words that were wholly inconsequential to Clive.
“But one task remains… To empty the vessel.”
The Nexus disappeared in a flash of white.