Erok's eyes widened as his opponent sent his shield flying out of his hand. He shifted to defense with his sword as the gladiator inched closer. The man leered at Erok as he attacked, revealing his disgusting, bloodstained teeth. 

Chris charged at the gladiator to divide his attention, but the man merely shoved him aside with his own shield and pressed on with the attack. He and Erok exchanged a series of blows, trading the roles of attacker and defender multiple times as they did so. As the Yugdab blocked another of Erok's strikes, he detected movement in his peripheral vision. He jerked his shield up a few inches, smirking as another of Kahiri's shurikens collided the wooden surface and stopped short of hitting his face. 

The gladiator shifted his focus back to Erok and his wicked smile returned. With one quick step, he found himself in range to attack. He twirled his sword with finesse and entangled his weapon with Erok's again. The Kaborian knight's blade flew out of his hand and clattered to the ground a few feet away. 

Erok gasped as his opponent unhesitantly stabbed right into his chest, burying the serrated blade deep into his flesh with a sadistic grin. The knight struggled to breathe, but only succeeded in coughing up mouthfuls of blood. His eyes flew open even wider as the gladiator yanked the weapon out, each tooth of the blade ripping his flesh open even more. Overcome with weakness, he collapsed onto his back. 

Tears filled Meg's anguished blue eyes as she screamed and dashed at Erok's grinning murderer. She flung a knife at the man, but he merely blocked and smirked at her mockingly. With an enraged growl, Meg approached the gladiator and threw several vicious punches at him. He blocked each frenzied blow with gleeful ease, his eyes locked with his fuming opponent the whole time. 

Meg's brow furrowed as the sharp point of a rapier poked through her opponent's chest, and the blade of a shortsword followed it a second later. Tossing aside her confusion, she took advantage of the situation and plunged two of her own knives into the man's flesh. When the gladiator's corpse fell to the ground, Meg locked eyes with Govlo, who stared back and rubbed his misaligned spine gingerly. 

Forgetting about her ex-Yugdab helper, Meg knelt at Erok's side and shook him. "Erok!" she cried, "Erok, stay with us!" 

Two coughs and a shake of his head later, Erok's eyelids fluttered open and his gaze rested on her face. "Meg ... I love your eyes ... sweetheart." 

Meg's brow furrowed and confusion flashed across her face. "Thanks, but—" 

"I've wronged you ... all my life, Meg. But I don't ... want to die with a rift still between us. Sweetie, I'm sorry for what I've done." 

Meg shook her head as a tear dropped from her eye to Erok's beard. "Don't be. Erok—" 

"Meg ... our split was all ... my fault. I should've apologized long ago, but ... I was stupid and arrogant. I'm so sorry." 

Meg's vision blurred as her eyes filled with weeping. "I forgive you, Erok. But please, don't leave me here, all alone! You're all I've got!" 

Erok weakly shook his head. "No, Meg. You've got Kahiri ... and Qwarten, and even Chris. Keep an eye on them for me." 

"Erok, please, don't give up!" Meg huffed and glared at Swedo as he finally knelt down at Erok's other side. "Swedo, you ... you ... what took you so long?" 

Swedo glared back at the bounty hunter. "Relax! Qwarten and I had to go back and grab my supplies from our holding cell!" 

Erok moaned. "Swedo, there's no hope of saving me now. I feel ... my body failing me as we speak." 

Swedo coughed awkwardly as he rummaged through his bag. "I'll try my best." 

After taking in one big, painful breath, Erok locked eyes with Meg and dropped his switchblade into her hand. "Meg, kiss me ... one last time." 

Without hesitation, Meg closed her eyes and shoved her lips into Erok's, ignoring the metallic taste of his blood as she did so. After lingering as long as her breath would allow her, she pulled away with a sigh filled with a multitude of emotions. When she finally opened her eyes, she witnessed Erok's last contented smile before he breathed his last. Meg buried her sobbing face in her hands while Swedo stood up with a dismayed shrug. 

******************* 

Meanwhile, Kahiri and Qwarten removed their grieving eyes from their fallen comrade and turned to observe Hadigama entering the arena with a crowd of sneering Yugdabs following behind him. Some of the warriors bore weapons, while others held torches in their hands, despite the beaming sunlight above. Hadigama dramatically unsheathed his sword while his gaze remained fixed on the weary archer and slinger across the arena. 

Qwarten rolled his shoulders, cracked his knuckles, and sighed. "Incoming hostiles, guys. Stay sharp." 

Kahiri offered Qwarten a reassuring glance that contradicted the tears and uneasiness resting on her own face as she dropped a pair of shurikens into his hand. Then she snatched an arrow from her quiver, fitted it to her bowstring, and aimed in the Yugdabs' general direction. 

With one last sob, Meg wiped her eyes and slowly rose to her feet. An expression filled with pure rage crossed her face as she noticed Hadigama's unwelcome arrival. She unsheathed a boomerang with a growl and stood at the ready. 

Chris' eyes moistened as he dropped his own cracked blade to the ground and slid Erok's steel out of his limp hand. After a moment of hesitation, he took up the legendary knight's shield as well and prepared to avenge his teacher's death. 

Prompted by a snap of Hadigama's fingers, the Yugdab torchbearers split up and approached each of the fallen gladiators' bodies. One by one, they set the corpses on fire, grinning wickedly as they watched the flames rise and intensify. Each man received Hadigama's silent approval as they took their places in the formation once more. 

The last torchbearer cautiously approached the line of anti-Yugdab warriors blocking his path to Erok's corpse. After taking a gulp, he stepped forward confidently with his hand raised to shove Meg out of the way. Instead, the bounty hunter slit his throat in one quick movement and shoved his own torch into his chest. Finally, she kicked the burning body far away from herself. 

Ignoring the spectacle he had just witnessed, Hadigama plunged his sword into the earth and bowed on one knee. He closed his eyes and his lips began to move in silent prayer to Anjaflic. 

Qwarten glanced at Kahiri. "You tell me, should we attack first, or wait for them?" 

Kahiri eyed the praying Yugdab champion thoughtfully for a moment. "We're outnumbered, but they're also way out of range to attack us. I'd say we wait for them to approach us, and then take them out one by one as they come close enough." 

Qwarten nodded. "Sounds like a solid plan." 

A couple minutes later, Hadigama rose to his feet once more. Mouths dropped on both sides as mysterious, yellow orbs of light appeared over the burning bodies of the gladiators. They slowly floated over to Hadigama and melted into his body, emitting loud sizzling sounds as they did so. Moments later, the pain overtook the Yugdab champion, and he loudly roared in agony. Each of his veins slowly morphed in hue from a healthy blue to a sickly green as the whites of his eyes disappeared entirely. Finally, what appeared to be a bolt of purple lightning plunged from the clear blue skies above and collided with Hadigama's head, shattering his helmet in the process. 

Govlo limped up to Qwarten and Kahiri with widened eyes. "We've gotta get out of here, guys! He's receiving the power of Anjaflic, and once his transformation's complete, there's no telling what he can do to us!" 

Qwarten eyed Govlo skeptically. "How do we know we can trust you?" 

Kahiri laid a hand on Qwarten's shoulder. "He's as against them as we are, now. I'm only here because he helped me." 

Qwarten nodded as he scooped Erok's limp figure into his arms. "Alright, then let's run. Chris, Jeng, lead the way and take out any hostiles ahead of us." 

Without a moment's hesitation, Jeng smashed through a door with the hammerhead of his battle axe and charged through. Chris swiftly took a place at his side and dashed down a dim hallway with the rest of their comrades not far behind. 

******************** 

Several minutes and many scuffles later, Kahiri and her comrades found themselves in a large stable. With a careworn smile, she approached a familiar gray horse and rubbed her hand through his shaggy mane. "Dusty!" she exclaimed, "I've missed you so much!" 

Dusty's only reply consisted of a forward jerk of his ears and a happy snort. Kahiri's grin widened, and she stood still for a second before snapping back into the present moment and clambering onto the horse's back. 

After Kahiri and Dusty trotted up alongside Qwarten, the archer offered him a smile full of gratefulness, although laden with grief. "Thanks for taking good care of Dusty for me, Qwarten." 

Qwarten shrugged. "It's nothing." Then he turned to glance over the other riders behind himself. "If everybody's ready, let's get moving." 

With that, the party trotted out the stable door, slowly speeding into a gallop once they found themselves outside. A flurry of arrows flew at the fleeing riders as they departed. They very narrowly escaped harm as they crested a stony hill and disappeared over the other side. 

About ten minutes into their ride, Kahiri turned to Qwarten again. "So, where are we headed?" 

"I haven't thought enough—" 

"Excuse my interruption," began Govlo, "but I think we should head for Kabor as soon as possible." 

"Why's that?" Qwarten inquired as he buried his annoyance at the interjection. 

"Hadigama always spoke of his dream of obtaining this power from Anjaflic so he could go to Kabor and crush the city most supportive of the Christian faith. If he wants to make good on that—" 

"Then he's gonna attack that city. Got it. Well, Kabor it is, then." Qwarten turned to Chris next. "It'll take us couple days to arrive, but if you go ahead of us, you should be able reach the city by nightfall and warn the Senate." 

Chris nodded vigorously. "Alright, Major, I'll do that. Safe travels." 

"Thanks. You too." 

With that, Chris galloped into the distance, and his comrades followed behind at a slower pace. 

******************** 

A/N: My. Heart. Is. Broken.

Our beloved Erok Fyervor is dead, folks! Even though he was a bit annoying at times, I think we can all agree that he was misguided at worst, not malicious. And now, not only is he dead, but Meg too, on the inside.

I hereby call for a moment of silence in honor of our fallen hero. (Only sobbing emojis are allowed on this line.)

Anyway, we also got a dramatic entrance from Kahiri, although that was technically in the first half. Can we give her some applause for that?

And we also had some very weird stuff happen to Hadigama, and now he's got powers or something. Ain't that freaky?

Well, I hope you have a great day despite the tragedy you've witnessed, and I hope to see you in next week's update.