Hi there, everybody. I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. As February was an eventful month for me, I decided to take a short sabbatical... and then work picked up. I am so sorry to have kept you guys waiting, but I do hope that this long chapter will make up for it. I'm not giving up on this story, so no worries there.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Darksiders universe. All I own is Eleyna. The rest goes to the original creators and developers of the games.

Chapter Ten: The Arena's Champion

Death growled once more as the two of them stepped off of the ship that housed the Eternal Throne and descended down the stairs. Eleyna smirked to herself.

"If ye weren't going to do anything about him, I woulda gutted him." she remarked.

"And then we would have been leaving that ship in a very different manner, no doubt." he quipped. Her smile widened into a full on mischievous grin, visible even beneath the shadow of her hood. Such a moment of small, mutual amusement between them, however, was brought to an abrupt end by the writhing of one of the Leviathans wriggling against its shackles, causing the links of the great chains attaching it to the great ship to clang together. They were in pain, no doubt because of the sword-like apparatuses piercing through their abdomens. Eleyna could only bring herself to wince before shifting her gaze to Death, who turned away from her, his eyes narrowed as he noted a very familiar face.

"How did you get here..." he questioned.

Ostegoth smirked- or came as close to smirking as one who was part goat could. "A merchant knows many roads. Not all of them are shared with Horsemen." he answered cryptically. Death had had enough of the old goat's non-answers and pressed on.

The outer tower of the Gilded Arena greeted the duo with a short, shadowy corridor followed by winding stone staircase. At last, Death and Eleyna came across a door and he pushed his way through it.

The first thing that caught Eleyna's eye was the beam overhead, glowing a bright and eerie green overhead from a statue in the center of the room- one of a hooded figure seated on a crumbling throne holding up a lantern- to a jewel just above their head. Death crossed the room and discovered that the door forward was blocked by a grate and a similar jewel hung overhead. After taking note of the grips on the base of the statue, he set to work to move it, turn it so as to have the statue pointing the other way. The grate shut over the main exit and Eleyna suddenly found herself feeling very nervous, but dashed after Death as he pressed forward.

In the next hall, the floor had given way and the only clear way for them to get across was for Death to scale across the wall with a hook standing out about midway to keep him suspended. Eleyna did not need further explanation, but rather than having Death grab her and fling her onto his back, she reached for him and pulled herself on. This surprised him; no one had merely touched him of their own volition. She herself had commented what seemed like eons ago that he was so cold and yet she secured her arms around his shoulders, nestled safely between his protruding shoulder blades. He could feel her warmth against his spine, which filled him with a strange chill.

He made perfectly sure that she was secure before he stepped back and then ran forward and jumped. As he moved along, Eleyna happened to look down and saw the bottom of the room below, where tens of thousands of bones lay littered along the dirty, uneven floor. She closed her eyes and subconsciously tightened her grip around the Horseman's shoulders and again Death felt her bury her face into the cold, hard skin of his shoulder. He couldn't help but nearly jolt as her hand ran accidentally across the amulet shards embedded into his chest, so much that he sped up his pace using his extended grip. As soon as his feet touched the stone floor, he nearly whipped Eleyna off of his back, holding the offending hand at the wrist and glaring at her.

"Don't touch that." he rasped.

"I'm sorry." she replied. "It was an accident."

Death knew that was true, but the sensation of a malevolent force he could feel trying to leave the amulet shards and seep into Eleyna's hand alarmed him nearly to the point of panic. All that came to mind were the wily words that the shadow he had known as his brother had spit at him. The malevolent whispers stirred once more and Death clenched his jaw to fight them back, breathing deeply. Eleyna's brow furrowed and her eyes trailed to the glowing stones buried within the shoulder she had just previously touched.

"I have some experience with healing." she offered quietly, slowly reaching for them, "Mayhaps I can..." Death caught her wrist once more and glared deeply at her- deeply enough to cut, she thought.

"Don't touch it." His words were spoken quietly, but with all the ferventness of a warning. He released her hand slowly so as to ensure that he got the message across. She was uneasy, but still obeyed, drawing her hand back to her side and remaining- for once- silent. Not one word was uttered to him as he pushed his way through the door and up the stairs following.

Those arriving in hope to compete within the Arena were granted a wide area, given a full scope of it, although it was relatively still and empty. Walls and walkways crumbled in on themselves into the lower levels. The main stage of this fortress was a wide floor of dust with several large obstructions rising out of it. To Eleyna's utter horror, she saw skeletons dangling from chains, hanging there for eons and she couldn't help but cringe at the sight.

"Behold," whispered a voice that ran indefinite chills up Eleyna's spine. It definitely belonged here, sounding like it came from the crypt itself, "challengers enter the Arena." As if it held a will of its own, a large statue of a robed, skeletal figure holding a sword turned toward them as its words were spoken.

"But what do they seek- absolution from death?" asked another from across the Arena.

"No, one yet lives, the other uses life as its weapon." Death tensed and regarded Eleyna, but the mentioned one did not flinch, keeping her eyes trained on the statues.

"Quiet." hissed yet another. "They would tell us their cause. Speak challengers."

Death took the initiative. "I've come to defeat your champion."

"And so all challengers boast, but most leave in torment. Their souls burned from existence and our champion all the stronger for it."

"Enough!" he barked. "Bring out your champion."

"Ahhh... yes. There is power in this one, power enough to do as he claims. But our champion is no cur to be summoned at will, you must draw him forth." Eleyna deeply resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "This altar holds his power- the souls of all he has slain and consumed." Eleyna took notice of a strange, skull-looking apparatus hanging beneath the stairs at the other side of the Arena. Merely the sight of this strange device caused shivers to run up her spine. "Three Animus Stones must be placed therein, and our champion will arise."

Then, all in perfect tandem, the statues turned towards the archway to the duo's right. When they finally stopped, the torches at either side of the archway were lit ablaze.

Another spiraling staircase greeted them beyond this door, granted parts of it were completely gone, so Death had to carry Eleyna across once again for bits of it. At last, they reached the bottom, where a dark corridor awaited them. Hundreds upon thousands of bones were piled in the corners of this particular room. Eleyna avoided them as much as she could; after all, she had some modicum of respect for the dead. Following this dark chamber was another set of steps. When he pushed open the doors, the two paused, taking in the sight of the skeletons gathered in this small chamber. All it took was for one to see them- which is indeed what happened- before the rest of them were swarming about them. Eleyna looked to Death, who rasped for her to 'duck'. Eleyna knelt, covering her head in a defensive manner. Above, Death summoned up his dark magic and spun, his scythes extended fully. They caught onto quite a few of the skeletons, sending various bones across the room.

Eleyna, not one to remain idle as she saw Death then move across the room like a blazing streak, struck her hands to the floor, pumping her potent magic into the ground. Just in time, as a swarm of skeletons moved upon her, the thorns sprouted about her, skewering the enemies through the ribcages. With a pleased smirk, she pulled her sword from her belt and followed Death into the fray, dancing around the axe of one skeleton attempting to swipe at her and effectively decapitating it with a wide swipe. Another pirouette and she was able to cut another across its bony chest before moving on to join her strange partner. More skeletons were pulling themselves from the various alcoves in the wall and from the floor.

"The things I go through, Horseman..." she remarked with a smirk as she found herself back to back with the Reaper. Death let loose a grunt that she could not tell came from annoyance or amusement, but he moved away, disposing of yet another set of skeletons while she was left to contend with the rest. When Death pulled his gaze away from his fallen enemies, he took note of the small sprite as she danced around another skeleton only to plunge her makeshift blade into its spine. The being cried out in misery before increasing the number of bones littered upon the floor. Her long hair billowed, blazing even in the dim light of the dungeon, her eyes alight and vibrant.

He suppressed his thoughts that were beginning to meld with the malignant whispers. There was no time. He opened the doors at long last and she followed him down an even darker corridor, to another set of doors. Within the next room, there was a raised altar and two alcoves blocked off by the Corruption crystals. A hole blocked off by thick chains just beyond the alter revealed the corridor forward. Eleyna traversed the stairs and discovered a pressure plate. Another corridor merely to the right of the alter opened up, also providing them with access to a live bomb. She remained on it and watched as Death blew up both obstructions. She realized as he pulled to him an eerily glowing lantern what he was intending to do. He hefted it up the stairs and placed it next to her on the pressure plate.

"Wait here." he told her. With that, he jumped down and proceeded into the corridor, scaling the wall out of sight. Eleyna waited only a moment, watching him through the blocked off hole and then saw him appear from an upper hallway. He lowered the grate blocking his path and walked to the edge, first using his grip to pull her up and then the lantern, again pulling it to his shoulder.

Yet another hooded figure statue awaited them, but its outstretched hand was empty, waiting for its lantern. With two spectral arms- which Eleyna watched with awe- he relinquished it to the statue. The beam it created shone overhead, and when he turned the statue, the path ahead was clear. Past a large stone statue, they found their way into a large, fathomless cavern. All that served for illumination in this dank and dismal place were lanterns burning orange in the distance and the eerie glowing horn of a grotesque statue in the distance, raised over the rest of the cave floor.

The Reaper stepped up the stairs to the strange altar and with the power of that dark creature within, he sprung up and grabbed it, fully breaking it off. Eleyna watched with an impressed smirk on her face before turning in tandem with his approaching steps and walking with him toward the exit. Unfortunately, it was not that simple; no sooner did they step toward the exit once more, up rose gates over their path back. She summoned her sword from her side and stood at the ready, watching as rings of orange outlined dark holes- climbing out of which were more of those beetles. Their shrieks again disturbed Eleyna to no end. Death had no qualms about putting these annoying little things out of their misery, but she would not be left behind, flourishing her sword and swiping at the beetles.

Finally, when the last one shrieked in agony and burst into flames, the grates shrank away and the two proceeded. As they reentered the room with the statue holding the lantern, however, another doorway, previously having been closed over, now opened. The shrieks of metal and the sound of them hitting bone echoed with mighty, thunder-like cracks against the narrow walls of the long corridor. Reaching the end of it and determining that the only way to go was up, Death allowed Eleyna once more to touch him as she climbed onto him. At last, he jumped to the final ledge and pulled himself and Eleyna up. She took the initiative and pulled the lever, thus opening the doors for them.

They emerged, and they found themselves on the bottom floor, the stage of the Arena. She could not help but to let loose a shiver of discomfort at seeing the dangling skeletons of warriors gone by, and then her gaze shifted, watching Death as he placed in the first of the horn-like Animus stone. When he had done so and come back down to the ground, the statues began moving once more towards the door opposite where they had entered first. Also, on their level, another door had opened and out ran several skeletal enemies. Eleyna had already brandished her sword and ran for them. Death noted that she would need help, but as he attempted to run to her, his attention was brought to yet another, so he decided now was a better time than any to multitask. He held out his hand, summoning from the ground a few ghouls to assist her. He would take care of the other, he decided. Eleyna had, after all, become quite strong since he had seen her first fight in the Forge Lands, and Death was intrigued to see how much she had progressed.

When the bones scattered- which did not take very long at all, they proceeded up the stairs that had been now accessible. These led to one of the upper walkways and it was a simple climb up to the highest level for them to enter the next door.

This next area, they both noticed, seemed to be comprised of a series of tunnels. From there, they took the hallway to the left, moving almost in tandem up a short spiral staircase. Eleyna determined that due to the position of the statue in the middle of this rounded, raised floor that the way forward was across a now downed bridge. Death extended his grip toward the center of the downed bridge and pulled to him an inert bomb before turning back.

"Wait here." he told her.

She did not, for once, object.

He backtracked to the first room, clearing the path into a long corridor. He took a hold of another inert bomb and threw it across the chasm separating one end from the other. He followed, scaling first one wall and then the other before landing safely and again grabbing the bomb. Death was not sure, but something told him it was a sound idea to clear away the crystallized Corruption, which he did. It was a small room that was revealed to him, but he could see the other side, over to the first room once more. He would come back to that later. Instead, he turned the statue in the center of the room. The grate opened to reveal a long passageway and at the end was a green glowing lantern.

His path was once again blocked, however, by skeleton warriors wishing to try their luck. Death could only just shake his head lightly; a small, confined space like this would give him no trouble. The grates opened again in the span of moments and Death retraced his steps with the lantern in tow.

He took note in the smaller room that he had opened moments ago that it had a pressure plate right at his feet. With that, he set down the lantern and then began his way back around. In the first room, he turned the statue towards the room he had just placed the lantern in. All that was left was to extend his grip and pull the lantern back to him and then he opened the way to the raised room up once more before meeting up again with Eleyna. With the lantern once again back in the hooded figure's possession, the bridge rose beneath the beam it created.

When at last they opened the door, neither were amused to see a downward spiraling staircase, broken in certain places. Eleyna huffed, but clamored onto Death's back all the same. Death ran forward, jumping at certain intervals and scaling the wall at others. Finally he set her down when they reached the bottom of this treacherous stairwell.

The next room unnerved Eleyna, merely because of how quiet it was- to say nothing of the piles of even more bones. She tread carefully, so as not to disturb them. A shiver crawled up her spine, however, as one became loosened from the pile, rolling down until it touched her ankle. Death could almost see it, if the look of suppressed disgust didn't give away her feelings. He found her discomfort almost amusing- almost, but his dying patience urged him to get a move on.

Were it only that simple. His eyes closed tightly and he felt a growl rise in his throat as more of the skeletons rose from the bone piles. Eleyna at this point had already drawn her sword and began to lash out. Death was not far behind her, pausing only to summon his ghouls. Soon, the skeletons were reduced once more to nothing but parts of the scenery.

Their exit was in the form of a hole that seemed to have been blasted through the wall and into the caverns once more. There to greet them was a flock of the small beetles and a group of skeletons, but these were not armed with swords or clubs, but rather with fiery bows. Eleyna dashed in as one took aim, catching the arrow just so to bounce off of her sword before she rushed in. Death saw another take aim at her from behind and nearly literally did he shoot across the field, disposing of any beetle unfortunate enough to be in his path. Upon contact with the archer, the bones were scattered and Death then spun, summoning the power of the reaper within him to disperse and dispose of the other archers.

The shrieking of the beetles alerted Eleyna of their approach and she touched the ground, focusing her power into the formation of plants. Again after a moment, their sprouted the large black thorns, skewering the small flock and blocking their way back. It was a long, strenuous fight before the air was clear, but when it was Death stepped forward, again becoming the hooded reaper so as to fly up and yank off the horn-like Animus stone.

The grates shrank back into the ground as they approached them and Death and Eleyna then found themselves in a great, rounded hall. All was calm, but not in a way that the two should have been alarmed. Eleyna smiled to herself out of slight relief before following Death through a set of doors to their right.

Again, Death pulled them up a high wall to the ledge and Eleyna pulled the lever which allowed them back out to the lower floor of the Arena. No sooner had Death become that hooded creature and placed the second Animus stone, the torches lit around the third and final door, situated atop a set of stairs opposite the doors they had entered the Arena from. This one was also much more simple to reach.

When the entered through this set of doors, they were met with a new enemy- a gargantuan figure dressed in leathers and wielding an alarmingly large club. When it saw Death, it let out an almost inhuman growl.

"Friend of yours?" she asked.

"This will be your grave..." the skeletal monstrosity rasped.

"I should think not." Death replied flatly. He took note of the others coming from the floor. "Distract the others for me. This won't take long." He then strode forward and flourished his scythes. Sensing that its prey was rising to the challenge, the creature let out another inhuman roar and then swung forward, it's club reaching for the kill. Death dodged with a swift series of rolls followed by a deft flip and then merged his blades, attacking with an uncanny spinning move.

Eleyna was not one to remain idle, and no sooner had he gone for the bigger enemy, she again summoned a throng of thorn plants to sprout from the floor, but already she could feel the drain on her magic, and these enemies were not letting up. A few of them had even taken to hacking off limbs of the thorn plants, and Eleyna knew she had to act fast, thus she summoned her blade once more and went in.

Death dodged what could have been a nasty and heavy blow and moved in once more, this time uppercutting the large foe into the air before attacking with a nasty spinning move. It did not get back up- not after he plunged the thick blade of one of the scythes into its chest. He then busied himself with the smaller enemies, although Eleyna seemed to have that problem perfectly under control. She would be annoyed with him and as far as he was concerned, she could be annoyed with him all she wanted.

At last, he pulled her from the thorns and the two continued on their way, with Eleyna slightly chuffed at the idea of having him come in to clean up her mess, but the fatigue she felt kept her from arguing too much.

Another long hall greeted them, but there was no way across yet another chasm, and no mechanism from this side to be raised or lowered, so their only way forward was through a door to their right. A long hallway circled around the chasm, but Eleyna felt ill at ease.

"Am I the only one who feels like somethin' should be jumpin' out at us?" she asked. Death didn't answer, but she knew he probably felt the same thing. It wasn't until they entered a separate antechamber that they were finally encountered by a small army of skeletal warriors. Eleyna could only groan, but Death strode in, crossing his blades in front of him before he began to hack at the warriors. He could only ignore the cries of a large skeletal warrior, who rasped to him curses and wishes to take his head. Eleyna brandished her sword and marched in as well, but her patience, much like that of her companion's, was wearing thin, and her fatigue had not completely gone away. This proved to be quite treacherous, as she nearly found herself on the receiving end of a jagged blade. With a hostile jerk, the skeleton tore her blade from her hand and then proceeded to knock her backwards. She scrambled to get away from it, nearly tripping over herself. The hand that she caught herself on suddenly released a surge of magic into the stone beneath her. Immediately did she feel her magic leave her altogether, and thus the panic began to set in. A roar behind her caused her to turn over as one of the warriors came up to her, ready to strike. Eleyna raised her hands in order to protect herself, but the metal scraped against something, and it wasn't the sound of metal clashing against metal. She looked up and there, crossing over her protectively like her own two arms, were two stone outcroppings. With a heaving chest, Eleyna realized that the stone, through her magic, was now under her complete manipulation.

While she felt nearly completely drained of her magic, she was now enthralled. Never had she been able to perform magic like this. The skeleton, in its rage, it raised its sword overhead. Eleyna took the opening she saw and shot her palms upward. On either side of her head, twin columns shot up rising to the ceiling and taking the skeleton with them, crushing the bones against the stone of the ceiling. Eleyna got to her feet then and manipulated the stone, waving it into a group of skeletons. The stone was tricky, though when she used it like this and she soon felt herself nearly buckle beneath the weight of her newfound power. After this, she felt the connection with the stone snap and the magic came back like the sting of a bent-back tree limb. She winced and fell to her knees. Death made his way over to her in order to better cover her while she regained her strength- something he had never done with any other. Ruthlessly did he find himself hacking away at the enemies that came to him, but never did he once stray too far from her side, even when far more enemies came out of the walls. Death waited but for a moment before twisting rapidly and summoning the energy of the reaper to cut them down.

When at last the enemies were no longer of any trouble to them, Death assisted Eleyna to her feet.

"Are you recovered?" he asked her. He did not expect to find her smiling proudly.

"I've never done that before!" she said breathlessly. "I cannae believe... did ye see that?" she asked. He nodded slowly, wary of this side of Eleyna. "Just think of the possibilities..." Eleyna was nothing short of giddy. She grinned and glanced at her hands.

Death's thoughts, on the other hand, were racing. He indeed had not expected this- not from Eleyna. Indeed the child was powerful, but he had to wonder just where the limitations of her power- if there were indeed any- went. But far be it from him to crush her at the height of her newfound glory.

"Yes," he added, "once you fully learn to control it." His sardonic tone did nothing to dampen her smile. If anything, it was widened. Assessing that she was now better and able to walk by herself, he led her through the door, allowing her to grab her sword as they left this room.

They were now at the other end of the hall and Death took note of the throne sitting in its own dais.

"But... but there's nothing here." Eleyna declared.

"No," Death countered, "it's past this." He stepped onto the pressure plate at his feet and took note of the bomb plant. Eleyna had been watching him, only to be led then to the dais. Death then returned to the pressure plate and grabbed the bomb waiting for him. With two fluid movements, he threw the bomb at the lever to his left and then rolled onto the dais with Eleyna. The bomb exploded and the two found themselves on the other side of the wall.

Yet another slew of dead warriors rose from the ground of the cavern to greet them, but before Death and Eleyna could draw their weapons, there erupted a great shriek from where the Animus stone was awaiting them. To Eleyna's horror, there had appeared a beetle, but bigger than any that either of them had encountered, towering over them. It leapt from the top of the altar down onto the other foes, thereby crushing them. But it wasn't done there, for after that, the beetle began swiping at them. Death dodged and Eleyna jumped away.

Immediately did she have half a mind to use her magic, but her aching frame kept her from doing so; instead she drew her sword. He launched himself at the creature, lashing out at it before it leaned forward, protecting itself with its iron-like outer shell. Eleyna launched herself at it, seeing an opening, but the thing turned on her, lashing out. It just barely grazed her, but it was enough to send her sprawling out on the ground. She was quick to get back up on her feet, though, watching as Death dodged and then parried with another attack from his spinning, conjoined scythes. And then she realized what she had to do. Again, she pressed her hand to the ground and summoned her magic. From her contact point between the ground and her hand, a great thorny vine sprouted and launched itself at the creature, stopping it as it was just about to lash out again at Death. She then grabbed her sword and dashed forward. All Death could see was the elfish creature he had grudgingly brought along with him leap high and drive her blade down, through its neck, striking it dead.

Death gazed at her, assessing her and finding her still stable with her power, he had admit to himself that this girl was never lacking in surprising. recovering himself, he walked past her in order to break off the final Animus stone.

Finally, they retraced their steps back to the main part of the Arena. The Horseman looked at his compatriot, who gave a confident smirk and nodded before leaping into the lower pit. Once again he formed his shape into that of the hooded reaper and flew up to place the final Animus stone. The ground began rumbling beneath their feet and then there came from the ground like a great vine a golden skull, followed by a jagged spine that let out a high-pitched roar before diving back under. Death and Eleyna scattered to avoid it as it tunneled between them, but the Arena's Champion went for the more challenging of its two prey. Eleyna, meanwhile watched with careful eyes to see if she could spot a pattern, but still held her sword at the ready.

At the last moment, the spinal snake stuck its head out of the ground, and that's when Death struck, extending his grip and pulling the thing by its skull to the ground with an earth-shattering slam. Both he and Eleyna moved in, hacking at it as best they could, but once again they scattered as it recovered, constantly moving. Eleyna then took this time and set her hand to the ground, pouring her magic into it. The thorns were successful in their pursuit, catching the Champion and with a tug of her hand, the creature was pulled out of the ground and it flailed against the vines as Death began to hack away at it.

Unfortunately for them, its thrashing finally did it some good and it was able to wriggle itself free of its bindings and burrowed back beneath the ground once more. This time, its path was not clear, not until it reached a pile of rather large bones. They came together around it, only to form a hulking body of dense bone that let loose an angry roar at them.

"Somehow," she said, "I was still expecting something..."

"More?" he concluded. She grinned and nodded, her eyes never leaving it. Again the thing let loose an angry roar and then grasped for its head before thrashing it down with a heavy slam- right where they had been a fraction of a second ago. This time, it went for the weaker prey, but Eleyna was ready for it. She held out her arm and let go of all of her magic, sending it at the thing in the form of the boulders beneath the sandy bottom of the Arena. The hulking body broke apart and Death went for the head, extending his grip and pulling the entire spine out with another deafening slam and Eleyna was waiting for it, ignoring the screaming of her fatigued muscles as she hacked at it. Again, it was only down for but a moment before it burrowed once more into the earth, and it wasn't long again before it reunited with the bones of its body, but this time, Death's patience was at its end. He dodged every swipe that the creature made at him with its spine and when the opportunity struck, he pulled it with a hard grip, allowing it once more to rebuild itself after Eleyna had hacked at it again. Then, he stuck his scythe into the ground and allowed the reaper to make itself known. The reaper then hooked the blade of the scythe beneath the edge of the Champion's skull and then with all its might pulled it out of its false body. The bones fell limp after a hard blow then with their own spine. The reaper relinquished the grip on its skull, but then swung, cleaving the champion's skull clean off. It landed at Eleyna's feet as the reaper then formed back to Death. It only took a mutual glance between the both of them to know what they had to do next.

Eleyna couldn't help but feel a little giddy after the fight with the Arena's Champion, but that mood was soon killed as they found themselves meeting with the Chancellor's smug face once more. And also, once more, she longed to pound it in. Mayhaps when their business was finished here, she could convince Death to let her have the first punch before he dealt with the remains... She was amused to find, however, that the Chancellor did not look pleased in the slightest.

"I was so hoping you would not return." he rasped. He then sighed in disappointment. "What of the Arena's Champion, then?" Death looked at Eleyna, who carried the skull with pride.

"He won't be entertaining you any longer." Death replied.

"No!" gasped the Chancellor. "Impossible!"

"I believe your King will see us now." Eleyna couldn't help the smug smirk from under the hood, which Death had had her replace the moment they had left the Arena.

"I..." the Chancellor began, but conceded, "cannot deny you." Death turned away, but Eleyna stepped forward and handed the skull to the hooded figure.

"I believe that belongs to you." she said with every manner of false politeness, leaving the Chancellor to seethe.

Dust flew ahead of them into the room, but before they had reached the halfway point, Death held out his arm to her, motioning for her to wait there. Eleyna's gaze fixed forward, where an ancient-looking figure of mere skin and bones sat on the stone throne. As Death stepped further forward, the figure seemed to come to life, and his translucent skin glowed an eerie light blue. As he moved, Eleyna heard cracks of bone going back into place. No sooner had he seen Death, his eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth.

"You stink of the Living, Horseman." he growled. "Of souls long overdue." More creaks and cracks occurred as he leaned forward. "You are not welcome here."

"Pity." began Death. "I was starting to enjoy the atmosphere.

"Then you have not been here long." With that, a green sort of energy surged around his hand. "Billions of souls crowd my kingdom. All of humanity, wailing for vengeance." At this, the green energy spread like a mist before his throne, and from it came the forms of several skeletal hands. After a moment, just before they had reached Death, they dissipated and the energy disappeared within the King's fist. "But, I see you are already familiar with such music." At long last, his eyes fell on Eleyna and she could practically hear the cold air being sucked between his sharpened teeth as he seemed to hiss with unbridled rage. "What mean you by bringing this... filth into my kingdom?!" He reached out his hand and the guards began their advancement towards her.

That is, until Death held out his own hand in a protective matter. His other fell on the handle of one of the scythes.

"The child of Life is with me." he declared. "She is none of your concern. I come to you with a request, and I would rather not have to dirty my hands once more by fighting your men." The King was still livid, resorting to keeping his seething silent. It was a long moment of silence, that to Eleyna seemed to stretch on forever.

Finally, he spoke. "What would you have of me, Horseman?"

"Show me the way to the Well of Souls."

The Undead King chuckled cruelly. "And what would do you seek there, power over life and death? Or do you hope for absolution, kin-slayer?" Eleyna froze and noticed that Death had tensed. From this perspective, she could tell that it did indeed affect him to be called that, and she averted her gaze out of guilt, remembering when she had called him that out of anger. Death, on the other hand, looked to the glass shards embedded in his chest, the ones that Eleyna had earlier accidentally touched. He raised a hand to them, only to have a wisp of their malevolent energy escape, winding around his finger. "I wondered where the souls of your brethren had gone, for they never passed through my realm."

This statement seemed to agitate Death even more than his grim title. "Your 'realm'," he began, raising his foot to settle on a skull that laid near his feet, "hardly needs more subjects." With that, he brought his foot down, thus crushing the skull. Eleyna winced.

"True, yet I must face this rabble without the Lords who serve me!" He gazed at his hand as he once more as his mist-like power then crackled in his clenched fist.

"That's not my concern." Death countered.

"Make it your concern, and I will grant your request. I will even overlook your crime of bringing this... girl into my realm." With his power, he formed a map of the Dead Plains over the floor. "Find my three Dead Lords, and wake them from their slumber." With that, the map then formed into a floating sphere of green energy, which then made its way to Death. "This will bend them to your will." With that, the sphere sank into Death's right forearm. The Horseman growled in slight pain and cringed, but received the 'gift' with no complaint. "Return the Lords to me, that they might share my burden."

Death turned away with a growl beneath his throat. Eleyna was quick not to tarry, following the Horseman. When she reached the doors, however, she turned back to the Undead King. For a second, she gazed upon the decrepit figure on the throne, and then she deftly bowed, almost dramatically.

"Thank ye kindly for yer understanding, yer Majesty." she said, turning before she could see his reaction. His answering growl, however, did not go unheard.

Whew. So we're, what about halfway through the Kingdom of the Dead? So as promised, I was going to start working on the series of one-shots for the side quests. If there are any of the side quests in particular that you want to see then please message me and let me know. Also, as with 'A Caged Bird's Faith' I'm looking for music. I have a small playlist compiled, but I'm open to ideas. Please let me know. Until next time! (which I'm sincerely hoping will not be as long of a wait) ^^