(Verando's POV) 

The surrounding room smelt heavily of reptilian blood, or perhaps it was just the tattered remains of his shirt. Holding back a groan, he slowly closed his hands into fists and wondered why his body wasn't shattered from the smack against the stone wall. It could be his ability to heal but he doubted it, he was pretty sure the impact had done much more damage than he could currently feel. 

Slowly opening his eyes, Verando blinked away the blur in the dimly lit room. A gentle fire roared in an aged fireplace coupled with multiple torches surrounding the walls. Cast on the floor, it was a different room than he had expected to be in. Someone had saved him from the dragon and beyond hope, he'd hoped it had been me. 

But, with the heavy smell of sulfur in the room, there was no trace of my scent on him.

The marble floor was stained with red, pushing himself up onto his hands and knees he grimaced as he held his side with his opposing hand to guard the fresh teeth marks. Thumbing through the dried blood, it was not his own that had marked the floor here. Inspecting further, the room was littered with dozens of dried-up bodies in various stages of torment and disrepair.

 Swallowing back the startle, he narrowed his eyes to look for their injuries only to find it seemed they'd been torn apart by the scattered looks of their remains. 

Yet, their dried skin suggested they had not decomposed but had been mummified. "Finally you're awake." The low, weak voice murmurs from the distance. In an attempt to get up, he scrambles on the surface but finds his legs still lacking purchase. "Don't try to get up just yet, you were practically in pieces when you were brought to me. Dragons..." With a hoarse sigh, the voice does not reveal itself. "A lycan heals quickly with just a bit of assistance."

"Why did you help me if you just bought me here to kill me?" One might not be encouraged to pull information from their savior when that savior was resting in a pile of bodies but after spending just a few moments with his father, he was ready to get it over and done with. 

The voice chuckles lightly, sparing a cough in between amusement. "You were always so temperamental. It's good to see ya have not changed. When that time rift opened and ya went to the dragon realm, I thought seeing ta world would make ya more cultured." Tilting his head, he racks his memory for the owner of the voice. 

The accent sounded so familiar, cautiously, he rested back onto his hip with a grunt of discomfort. 

"Tomas?" It was a weak hope that the man could have found a way to survive. 

After a long pause, the voice sounds just as disheartened. "No, I'm 'fraid not, though I would give anythin' to see that man again." 

"Fergus." Verando exhales, forcing himself back up to his feet as he manages to stumble in the dim room towards the sound of the voice. Rounding a corner, under a skylight, lay the white unicorn on the stone stable. Bound by black, thick vines that seem to come from the earth itself. His white coat was tarnished with heavy black veins climbing throughout his body. 

"Me too. I think about him a lot." What could he say to a creature on its deathbed? The spirit of the earth is trapped under a dripping skylight. 

Tracking along the wall, he collapses back to his hip, gripping his side as he sits by the unicorn's head. Thick pools of white hair hang over the edges of the table, gathering in silken, glimmering heaps all around. The gentle breath of the beast was enough to tickle his cheek from where he sat. "I need to get you out of here."

"I'm 'fraid neither 'o us are leavin' this place. We are but five days away from my death. If not fer these souls, I would be dead fer sure." The words make the lycan flinch, so he's been feeding off people to stay alive for any amount of time. Without his connection to me, nothing was holding him when he was finally drained. "Thanks fer killin' the dragon though. He was a real arse."

Verando chuckles, leaning his head back against the table with a shakey exhale. Shutting his eyes, it's hard to envision a way out of this in his current state. Even 'healed', what was he to do? Carry Fergus on his own? "No worries. I wish I would have thought this through better, in hindsight. "

"I rid this plain of yer father, I hope ya don mind." 

"You're doing me a favor, he's a real arse, too."

"Aye." Fergus agrees. "It sure is nice to have someone to talk to. Even if it is you. Ya never were quick with ta carrots."

Verando adjusts his seat to let the hanging muzzle of the unicorn rest on his shoulder. Reaching up, he slowly strokes the beast's nose with thoughtful passes as he marvels at the velvet texture. "I much prefer dogs but you will do. I have a dog now, you know."

"Ya are a dog." The horse sighs with a heavy blow. 

Smirking, he glances up to watch the sun creep toward the top of the sky, surrounded by clouds threatening to block out its light. Each breath hurt, ragged, and uncomfortable against his slow-healing ribs. The pain of hunger hit him once more, a reminder of one of the only benefits of equines in their time. "Mmm. What do you think unicorn tastes like?"

"Dog." Fergus snorts.

Chuckling once more, he shuts his eyes. "Looks like Nic needs to come to save both of our sorry asses. Unless you can get up, somehow?" The exchange was natural, much like his relationship with Tomas, the unicorn had never been his favorite creature with its lack of duty to the people on this earth. 

The unicorn was a selfish creature its ability to be completely useless when it was needed the most, it only seemed right that it depended on them to save it. 

In that same strand, it was nice not to be worshipped while he did appreciate my ability to cater to him in all forms and provide him with plentiful treats. Of all his lives, his years with Tomas had been his favorite. "'Fraid not." Fergus sighs. "Glad ya brought Nic. Yer doin' a poor job of a rescue."

Feeling his hand grow wet, he notes the gentle trickle of blood from the unicorn's nose. "You took some of your life away to heal me, didn't you?" Fergus says nothing, growing quiet as if he'd fallen asleep. "Fergus, who brought me here?"

"The reason why neither of us are gettin' out alive. Caspian was ta one who brought ya to me. Nic won't be riskin' yer life fer mine." It was the painful truth, it wasn't like he could. Bonded together, if one died the other would quickly follow. Cursing under his breath, Verando edges back to straighten against the table yet remains under the unicorn's nose. 

"What if you broke the seal? He can use my life force, my power, whatever he needs but if I die.."

Fergus frowns at the thought, the large black eye rolls to stare at him. "I know what it's like to live without someone you care about. Nic does not want that."

"It stops becoming about what we want and starts becoming what's best for the world. Can you do it or not?" The unicorn says nothing, falling into silence and earning a curse from the lycan, only to silence himself as the dark figure rounds the corner. 

The curly black hair is revealed as the shorter man pushes the cloak back onto his shoulders. "There you are." The false gentleness in his voice was almost reassuring but he knew him too well to be fooled. "I had worried I'd have to go track you down again, I didn't want to have to kill that dragon but... well.. it had injured what was mine." Caspian glances him over, amused at the scowl he receives. "What? No 'thank you?'"

Everything in him said to run yet his body felt heavy, restricted as if he was glued to the floor. "Fergus, why can't I move?" He murmurs through his teeth. The unicorn only sighs in response as Caspian strolls towards them, kicking a skull aside with an amused chuckle as he tilts his head and then crouches down before the silver-haired man. 

"Why can't you move... hmm.. well." Reaching down, he gathers up one of the vines to look at it curiously. "I control the unicorn, it would seem. The unicorn fixed you but also slowed you down just a bit. A mild sedative. I'm surprised you got up and walked this far." Caspian pats one of his boots with a startlingly loud laugh and grin. "Looks like you're staying for the show. No surprises. Not like you could kill me anyway, you've had plenty of chances. Go ahead, I'll give you one more chance." 

On his hands and knees, Caspian crawls over him to straddle his lap, sitting on him to place his hands on the bare shoulders and gingerly tilt his head to the side. "Go ahead, Randy. Rip my throat out."

Verando willed every fiber in his body to move, his muscles shaking, his heart pounding and his teeth clenched, it was as if he was made of concrete. All he could manage was to allow his hand to drop from the unicorn's nose and rest heavily at his side. Caspian raises an eyebrow with a gentler smirk. "You know, I'm always amazed at how beautiful you are. Thanks for the gift of Fadri by the way, bought this old bastard some more time-" He tilts his head to the dried corpse not far away. 

"I was convinced, though your little pet ripped his voice out, you aren't one for conversation anyways..." Reaching up, he cups the stubbled jaw, carefully dragging his thumb over the male's lower lip as the low snarl curls in Verando's throat. "That... he didn't have that. Plus he just looked so damn afraid, what a turn-off. I did have fun with him though, for a minute." 

Licking his lower lip, Caspian grins a one-sided smirk. "Not like this, though. Do you feel it whenever Kestrel gets close to that pretty little granddaughter of yours? He aches for her just as I ache for you, does it keep you up at night? Make you wish you would have done something about me all those years ago?" Gripping Verando's jaw, the grin slowly turns into a scowl. "Or do you block it out, just like you block me out?"

It was a battle of whether he should answer or not. But, silence might lead to impatience and if he was going to survive long enough for me to arrive then he might as well play the game. "Kestrel is a better man than you."

"It speaks!" Caspian cackles with a small grin, amusement returning. "Thanks. I raised him. Did you like my Kavanza present? Talk about daddy issues... that was fun dragging up from the dragon realm. He had a lot of good advice though." Releasing the male's jaw, he reaches up to slowly drag his fingers through the short gray locks. 

The immobility and the look of resentment seemed to displease the darker male as his hand slowly tightened to yank Verando's head back and get a better look at his eyes. 

"I thought about torturing you some more, maybe enjoying another round of your attributes but looking at this horrible expression you're giving me, this lack of appreciation, I think I might just leave you here. I want you to sit and think about exactly what I'm going to do to that prince the minute he walks through that door. I'm going to let him in. I'm going to make a fucking path for him to come right through that door because the minute he does..." Gripping the male's throat with his free hand, Caspian hovers his lips dangerously close. "I'm going to cut your freaking throat."

Fergus murmurs low in his throat and it's as if gravity had lifted. "What did you say?" Caspian thunders at the equine as Verando lurches forward to pin Caspian to the ground. 

"I'm going to enjoy breaking every bone in your body." Verando snarls through gritted teeth. He couldn't kill him, it would release Fenrir to Kestrel, but he could make him suffer and wish for death. Caspian knees him sharply in the thigh and shoves him off, jumping to his feet in a ready position as Verando gets up to match him. "What's the matter, Cas? Where's the back chat?"

Feral as he flashes his teeth, Caspian's skin practically boils as he slowly circles the male. "You never could beat me. You always gave in, you were never strong enough."

"You always cheated." Verando reminds him shortly. 

"It made no sense why everyone valued you! I was a chosen son and all they cared about was your damned happiness!" Lunging for him, Verando quickly deflects the assault and directs Caspian to rush past him. Caspian wheels around with a roar, sizing up another attack. "You were able to love everyone but me, the one person who could have truly made you happy. You chased Marisol when I was standing right there. You bedded every woman and yet I was second-rate! You knew I loved you!"

Much as he wanted to comfort the man who was once his friend, it was these exact moments that kept him from developing boundaries, that allowed Caspian to push the line of comfort and insert himself into his life so deeply. It was time to stop blaming himself for Caspian's unhappiness. "You were a brother to me. Isn't that enough?"

"NO!" Caspian thunders, lunging for him once more. It was a matter of deflecting the assault, redirecting the flying fists, and the brutal attacks of attempting to land every hit possible in Caspian's blinding rage. Caspian had always been stronger, but not faster. He'd always been more direct but lacked the flexibility of calculated attacks. 

Caspian was his opposite in many ways, where he lacked in the brute strength the shorter man possessed he had learned the value of patience in a fight. 

The more he redirected, the angrier Caspian got. The walls of the building began to tremble with the thundering roar as he directed blow after blow at the gray-haired man. "Why won't you hold still?! Fight me!" He commands, salivating in his desperation for bloodshed. 

Verando stands his ground, ready for the next assault. Watching the man's heaving chest, he was all too familiar with the rage of fatigue. "You're not fighting, you're throwing your body around without consideration. But, if you insist." 

Going on the attack, it was easier to use the man's copious amounts of clothes to disarm him. With the massive cloak, taking him off balance was quite simple, and with his exhaustion setting in, Verando was able to land much more valuable blows than the fast and furious strikes of his opponent. 

As he pushes away once more, Caspian does not return to the assault but instead stills as his body shakes uncontrollably. Stooping over an ear-splitting scream, Caspian chuckles in between agonized cries. "That blood on your arm smells delicious..."

In a sudden burst of untempered rage, the dark-haired man erupts from his clothes. Body contorting, skin splitting, and twisting into something inhuman. "I'll show you what true power is." 

The black wolf standing before him in unbelievable size snarls, drool dripping in strings from his jaws as he slowly licks his lips. Easily twice the size of a normal lycan, it was enough to take his breath away at the shock of what was to come. The end of days was nearing and Fenrir was growing stronger, able to walk to earth in this less-than-adequate form. 

The lycan was almost deformed in its attempt to hold the god inside. Blood-red eyes glare down on him as the beast takes a slow step forward. "I'm going to enjoy devouring you."