Hi everyone! Didn't get a review for chapter 46 this week, but wanted to push this out anyway. Not sure if people read it, but do read chapter 46 if you somehow missed it! Thank you to WillDreamer for putting in the effort to review my earlier chapters, it is greatly appreciated! Really glad that you're invested as well. The title of this chapter also matches up with one of your fics!

There are a few references to earlier chapters in the series, I'll let you know which chapters I referenced in my author's note at the end of this chapter.

This chapter is written from Calvin's perspective.

Chapter 47: Son of the Sun

"DROP!"

Calvin knew he could trust Hecate. As Luxa and Ripred were the first to spring from their vantage point, Calvin quickly followed suit and bolted out. As soon as his legs were flailing through the air, he felt the soft fur of Hecate beneath him. He looked down to see Hecate lowering Gregor onto the floor, before she took off amidst the chaos and smoke that engulfed the cavern. They headed straight for a large exit that took them away from the fighting that erupted behind them.

Calvin felt his heart pounding against his ribcage. The thudding was the only sound he could hear as Hecate wordlessly weaved in and out of corridors in search of the missiles. Calvin prayed quietly that he wouldn't run into anyone - he wasn't armed at all. If a fight were to break out, Calvin's time on this earth would be up before he even had a chance of surrendering.

It seemed as if Hecate was aware of his desire to avoid conflict, as she did her utmost to avoid making any sound as she flew about the winding tunnels. But for every second she delayed in order to remain quiet, they moved closer and closer to conflict. It wouldn't be long before Snake and Flavius were combing the area once they realised that Ripred, Gregor, and Calvin were all missing from the main battle.

Calvin felt his gut clench as he remembered the scene in front of him. The two armies barreling straight toward each other, crashing headfirst into each other with the full force of fury behind them. He would never forget the screams that burst across the cavern like bombs being dropped from the sky. They would reverberate through his memories as long as he lived. He would hear them every time he witnessed a violent episode or act. He knew that for sure.

He had tried to look for Lapblood amongst the vanguard but did not see her. It would have been impossible to spot anyone from that distance with the poor lighting, but Calvin had hoped he could catch a last glimpse of her. Instead, she and the combined armies of the Underland were lost to the shadows.

Hecate turned round the corner and emerged into a cavern about twice the size of the one the mercenaries were getting suited up in. The cavern was plain, adorned only by homogenous stacks of crates.

Hecate floated down to the floor and Calvin disembarked quickly, sliding down her right wing. He jogged over to the crates and pulled off the covering sheet draped over them. The boxes weren't sealed - they had been opened already. He tried to lift the lid gently, but it was far too large and heavy. Grunting in annoyance, he pushed hard against the lid, slowly sliding it out of place. It creaked and groaned as it was gradually shoved out of position, and then with an almighty roar, it slid off completely. Calvin leaned over and peeked inside.

The crate had two large cylindrical pieces of metal, clearly meant to be pieced together to form just a part of a larger whole. They did not provide the full picture, but they still spoke a thousand words.

"There are hundreds of these boxes," Hecate breathed behind him.

Calvin looked around at the crates dotted all over the cavern. For a second, he saw them as tiny bombs on the world map, erupting and consuming everything across the face of the planet.

The Underland would not survive a missile strike. It would be even less than a barren wasteland by the time the smoke cleared.

"Each crate has two pieces," Calvin said, his voice echoing around the cavern despite his best efforts to keep it to a whisper. "They plan to assemble them here, so they aren't ready to fire the missiles yet."

"How many missiles do they have?" Hecate asked, the word "missiles" clearly still feeling foreign to her.

"Thirty, forty… maybe a hundred," Calvin replied. "I can't tell."

He unzipped his bag and took out the charges. "I'm gonna get to work."

"I will be listening for intruders," Hecate said. "Although we technically are the intruders."

Calvin allowed himself a lukewarm smile before getting to work. He didn't plant a charge on every box, but planted one on every sixth or seventh row of crates. He tried to keep it as spread out as possible so the moment he detonated those charges, everything would be destroyed. Planting it in several locations also meant that if someone were to chance upon the charges, it'd be much more difficult to find where they were planted and then remove or defuse them. Within ten minutes, he'd planted close to a dozen charges as he ran from crate to crate across the cavern. It was one of those obscure things that Mr Carter had taught him when he was a kid - he never understood why he needed to know that until this very moment.

Before long, he'd planted charges on various crates throughout the cavern. He quickly jogged back to Hecate, whose head was constantly swivelling in every direction like an airport surveillance radar.

"Anything?" he asked.

"Our friends are still fighting," she said softly, and Calvin's heart fell. The longer their fight dragged on, the more their lives were in danger. If the mercenaries were able to regroup and reorganise themselves… Gregor, Ripred, and Luxa wouldn't last long against their firepower.

"We should go back," he said. "I've planted the charges."

"No," Hecate said firmly. "You still have to plant the charges across the base. The quicker you get it done, the sooner we leave."

"But -" Calvin began, but Hecate wasn't having any of it.

"You do not have your guns, Calvin," she said. "This mission is more important than their lives or your guilt."

Hecate's words were harsh and cut deeper than a sword would. This was also the most serious she had ever sounded to Calvin.

It was all he needed to hear to realise that this was bigger than him.

"Come on," he said, jumping onto her back.

She took off quickly and began to head for the exit, but quickly estimated that she was too large to fit through it. She flitted to another exit but quickly realised she was again too big to fit through it, especially with her wingspan. And then another, and another. Every exit leading out of this cavern was too small for her, bar the tunnel they had entered from.

"I could fly back and change our route," she offered, but Calvin knew that wasn't going to cut it.

"I'll go on foot," he said. "Look, every second we waste here is another life lost. It'll be faster if I do this by myself."

Hecate looked very uneasy.

"Wait here," Calvin continued. "I'll come back, then we'll find everyone and get the hell out of here."

"If you get caught alone - " Hecate began, but it was Calvin's turn to interrupt her.

"You said it yourself," he said. "This mission is bigger than all of us. The timer on each charge is about ten minutes from activation to detonation. If they catch me, I'll set off the timer. I just hope I can warn you guys before that happens."

Hecate didn't look too convinced, but she didn't have much of a choice. "I will wait here," she confirmed. "Fly you high, Calvin."

Calvin reached out with his hand. Hecate reached out with her claw and grasped it. For a second their hands were locked in place, as were their eyes. They knew what this could mean - what they were asking each other to do. They were placing all their trust in each other.

"Fly you high," he replied simply, and then they let go of each other. He had to do this alone, and she had to let him do this alone.

He broke into a sprint towards an exit on the far side, choosing not to turn around and take one last look in case he lost the resolve to go through with this. Taking a deep breath, he put his head down and charged straight down the tunnel, plummeting headfirst into the cold dark.

The next few minutes were a blur to him - the tunnels were lit by fluorescent tubes, evidence that they were meant to lead somewhere - but Calvin found himself fixated on his shadow, chasing it down the tunnel, his bag making a jingling noise with all the charges he still carried. He had maybe a dozen left, so he'd have to be careful with where he planted it.

Within a couple of minutes, he'd emerge into a small room, plant the charge, and then he was off to the next one. He lost track of all time, lost sense of where he was going and how he would get back to Hecate… all he cared about was planting the charges across the base so his friends no longer had to bite the proverbial and literal bullet.

Eventually, he emerged into a vast circular cavern, probably similar in size to the one with all the crates. On the far end of the cavern, a singular column of light ran down from the ceiling to the ground. The pillar of light was shackled by a metal grate around it, almost keeping it locked and pinned in place.

It wasn't long before Calvin realised he was staring at an elevator shaft. A lone elevator shaft in this vast cavern… it must be a route back to the Overland. It had to be. Calvin started moving towards it, each step feeling heavy and deliberate, as if he wore boots made of lead. Still he persisted, edging closer and closer to this route out of the abyss.

He stood in front of it and looked upwards. The harsh glare of the light hit his face, flooding his senses completely. They glowered down at him, almost beckoning him to head up but also judging him for it. This was his stairway to heaven if you could call it that - he could set off the charges, finish what he promised to do, and close this chapter of darkness. This was his chance to escape. He could leave everything behind and be born anew amidst a baptism of flame and ruin.

No.

Despite everything this place had taken from him… he would defend it like it was his home. He would fight in the dark and the light, through war and strife. For his bond, for his friends, for everything he and his dad stood for.

He zipped open his bag. There was one charge left - one last charge to sever the cord between over and under, to halt the devils' descent from heaven, to end a war before it began.

He attached the charge to the metal grate of the elevator shaft. He would return to the Overland, of course he would - but not like this. Not till the job was done and his friends were safe. Satisfied with his choice, he took a step back and sighed. Now he had to find Hecate, then the rest, and then fly out of there to end the war.

"You came back."

Calvin's heart skipped a beat.

He turned around slowly, the dread setting into his gut.

Snake strode out of the darkness. He stared at Calvin while twirling the pistol in his right hand for a few seconds, before continuing to walk towards him. When they were about fifteen feet apart, he stopped. His reptilian gaze seemed to maraud all over Calvin's body, searching for signs of weakness.

"Some friends you have," Snake continued. "They must've known what happened here, yet they sent you back anyway."

"I chose to come back," Calvin said quietly, trying his best to steady his nerves. But his voice quivered slightly, and he was sure Snake picked up on that.

"You're plunging your hands into the filth for them," Snake replied. "You think you're here because you want to? Wake up Calvin, your life is worth nothing to them. You're going to die down here."

"You're gonna kill me?" Calvin scoffed. "The guy who's claiming to be my dad?"

"I don't need to claim anything," Snake said coldly, his snarl turning upwards into a sneer. "And I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to help you see the truth."

Calvin heard loud shuffling from his right. He turned his head immediately in that direction, facing a gaping entrance to the cavern that remained shrouded in darkness. There was a brief twinkle in the darkness, like the light was bouncing off a shiny object.

Then Calvin saw red fur.

And a steel mask.

And a single eye, gold as the sun.

Flavius' head emerged from the darkness, his metal masking glinting even in the dim light of the cavern. "Calvin, Snake," he greeted them. "I come bearing a gift."

He retreated into the darkness, and within a second he came out with a wing in his jaws. He pulled hard, dragging a bloodied figure out of the tunnel. It looked like…

Calvin's heart stopped.

Flavius dragged Hecate out of the tunnel with his mouth, pulling up to about the same distance Snake was from him. Calvin tried to speak but his words wouldn't rise out of his throat. His heart screamed as he saw Hecate struggling to breathe, one eye sealed shut from a bruise while her left wing remained locked in Flavius' jaws. The king of the foxes let go and she slumped downwards, lying prone on the floor.

Calvin's blood turned from icy cold to raging hot. He bit down on his tongue, struggling to keep a lid on as his anger threatened to boil over. He could not slip up, not now. He needed to find a way to get Hecate out of there, even at the cost of his own life.

Calvin could not lose her.

"Okay," he said, his voice trembling. "What do you want from me?"

"Stop fighting for them," Snake said simply, "and start helping us."

"You want me to be your pawn?" Calvin asked.

"Better us than them," Snake said, gesturing at Hecate's limp body. She tried to lift her head and mumble something, but couldn't muster the strength.

Now was Flavius' turn to speak. "I had a little chat with your flier on our way here," the fox king said. "I have come to understand that the two of you are now bonds."

"What's that?" Snake asked.

"They are sworn to defend each other," Flavius replied. "To the death."

His words were dripping with disdain.

"To the death?" Snake mused, twirling the pistol in his hand again. "That's dramatic."

Calvin couldn't help himself. "What would you know about it?" he retorted. "Everything you've ever done was for yourself."

Those words seemed to strike a nerve. Snake's eyes narrowed slightly, while Flavius leaned back in amusement.

"If I really didn't care, you'd be dead by now," Snake hissed at Calvin. "The only reason you're still alive is because I allow it."

"You don't get it, do you?" Calvin continued. "I owe these people nothing and they owe me nothing too. I don't keep score with these guys because I'm doing what is right. They're my friends. And if you want to take their land, you're gonna have to do it over my dead body."

"And what about your own people?" Snake shit back. "Our planet is dying, and these billionaires look to the skies when the answers are all down here. What would you give for eight billion people to survive?"

Calvin thought about what Snake was saying. Was it really worth sacrificing the human population for these underground inhabitants, who only ever went to war with each other?

He glanced over at Hecate, who just about lifted her head up to meet his gaze. Despite how battered and bruised she was, she still broke out a half-smile at him.

"You're killing thousands of innocent creatures to make up for the mistakes we made in the Overland," Calvin replied calmly. "This is their home. As far as I'm concerned, I'm good where I stand."

Calvin and Snake stared straight into each other's eyes, both unwilling to flinch. Calvin set his jaw but found the rest of his body relaxed. He knew exactly what he stood for now - no question about that. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone. Especially not to the murderous psychopath in front of him.

It was Snake who caved first.

"Fine," Snake snarled. "Die with your principles. That's not my damn business. But I see the charges you've attached to the elevator shaft. I'm guessing there are more around here. You're gonna lead me to them."

"Not happening," Calvin said, shaking his head resolutely.

A cruel smile spread across Snake's face, sending shivers down Calvin's spine.

"Your bond dies if you don't cooperate."

"Calvin, do not -" Hecate croaked out, but Flavius placed his paw on the back of her head and pressed her face into the ground.

"Let her go," Calvin snarled. "Let her go, and I'll show you where the charges are."

"You don't get to make the demands here," Snake replied coldly.

Calvin glanced over at Hecate. Flavius had his claws digging into the back of her head. If Calvin were going up against just Flavius or Snake, he might be able to delay them long enough for Hecate to make an escape. But against both ragers? The fight would be over before he even had a chance to dig into his utility belt…

Calvin looked down.

He had his utility belt with him.

There wasn't much in there - he'd used his stun grenade to buy Gregor, Ripred, and Luxa time earlier. A smoke grenade wouldn't be of much use in this situation, it'd only disorient him and Hecate as well, and who knew how Hecate would react to inhaling that smoke?

But as he reached for the belt, his hands settled on exactly what he needed.

Snake noticed Calvin's movement toward his belt.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Snake warned him.

Calvin smiled.

"Good thing you're not me then."

He yanked out his taser and fired a round at Flavius, who was caught completely off-guard. The darts landed on Flavius' shoulder, and Calvin felt his arm vibrate as the current coursed through and hit the fox king, sending him into uncontrollable spasms.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled at Hecate, as Snake trained his pistol on his bond.

Calvin barely had time to react. He didn't have much choice and Hecate's life had to be saved at all costs. He dropped the taser and hurled his smoke grenade at Snake's feet, with the canister exploding and engulfing the mercenary in a cloud of smoke. Calvin closed his eyes, sucked all the air he could into his lungs, and dove forward into the smoke.

He crashed into Snake's legs and bowled him over just as Snake pulled the trigger. Three gunshots shrieked over the chaos that had enveloped the cavern, but Calvin continued to fight, wrapping his arms around Snake's legs to keep him pinned to the ground.

Suddenly, a pistol broke through the smoke and landed hard against his shoulder. Calvin let out a yelp of pain and released his grip, and Snake brought the pistol butt down on his shoulder again, creating some separation between the two. Grunting in pain, Calvin opened his mouth to scream.

Bad idea.

He began coughing and choking as the smoke entered his lungs, constricting and suffocating him. He rolled backward as he opened his eyes, the smoke stinging them and causing him to tear up. His eyes felt like they were bleeding tears from a thousand needles inserted into his sockets.

As the smoke slowly cleared, Calvin's tears began to subside and his vision became less hazy. Snake was lying on the ground, his arm wrapped around his mouth to serve as a mask against the acrid smoke. Flavius had scratched the darts off his shoulder, leaving deep claw marks where they were. He was still spasming slightly, but he was recovering quickly. He shook himself down a couple of times before getting to his feet, his fur singed from the effects of the taser hit.

Calvin looked across the cavern, hoping to see Hecate quickly disappear down one of the tunnels. But she was still there, trying desperately to take flight but still feeling too weak. She must have inhaled some of the smoke too, as she was breaking into violent coughing fits. He was relieved that she hadn't been caught by Snake's gunfire, though.

Calvin's gaze flitted over to Snake, who was getting back onto his feet as well.

Unleashing a bloodcurdling battle cry, Calvin threw himself at Snake and rammed his knee into the mercenary's back, eliciting a howl of pain from Snake. The mercenary stumbled forward but turned the momentum into a roundhouse kick, which Calvin neatly danced away from. He then threw himself at Snake again, using both hands to grab Snake's right wrist and direct the pistol upwards just as Snake pulled the trigger. More gunshots rang throughout the air as they wrestled for control of the gun. Snake used his left hand to fire a punch straight into Calvin's ribs, causing Calvin to gasp sharply from the pain. A second punch from Snake produced a brutal cracking sound, and now Calvin fell to the floor, completely winded by the blow. Snake turned around and fired at the struggling Hecate…

… but all he produced was a singular, hollow click.

Calvin smiled as the metallic taste of blood lined his mouth. Stumbling to his feet, he hurled himself at Snake again from behind, wrapping his right arm around Snake's neck and choking him while his left hand pinned Snake's left hand in a lock. They struggled against each other, with Snake's muscles writhing desperately against Calvin's determined choke hold.

Snake suddenly leaned forward and flipped Calvin over his back. Calvin landed in an exhausted heap in front of Snake, but quickly scrambled around to face the rager. Snake unloaded the empty magazine from his pistol and reached into his belt to reload it, but Calvin wasn't going to give him the opportunity to. Just as Snake slid a new magazine into the pistol, Calvin charged forward again. This time, he used a head feint to feign an attack on Snake's legs. At the last possible second, Calvin twisted upwards and crashed into Snake's midriff before the rager could pull the trigger. The two of them crashed back down to the ground.

Despite his slight disbelief that such a boneheaded move had worked, Calvin wasted no time patting himself on the back. He threw a violent elbow against Snake's face, striking Snake's cheekbone and producing a harsh hiss from the mercenary. Calvin let loose a barrage of swear words, his elbow feeling janky from the strike and his shoulder feeling the effects of Snake's earlier strikes. As Snake reeled from the pain, Calvin got back onto his feet and lashed out with a violent kick at Snake's right wrist, hitting the pistol and sending it flying out of Snake's grasp.

For a brief second, Calvin's eyes shifted away from Snake and towards Hecate, who was lying down in the middle of the cavern, exhausted from attempting to take to the air.

"GET UP!" he yelled at her, but it was pointless. Hecate was just too injured and tired to fly at that moment.

Flavius had miraculously shrugged off the effects of the taser, and he had finally found his footing. His menacing stare settled on the limp Hecate, and Calvin saw his muscles tense up as he prepared to sprint for her. His eyes darted over to Calvin, registering surprise at the sight of Calvin standing over a wounded Snake.

Then his eye shifted back onto Hecate.

The king of the foxes dashed towards his bond.

Calvin just sprinted as hard as he could for Flavius, willing himself to run despite the pain in all of his joints. At first, it seemed like he'd get to Hecate first. But as each second inched by, Flavius seemed to get closer and closer to his bond.

As Flavius closed in on Hecate, Calvin pushed himself harder, his muscles screaming violently at him. He stretched his legs and activated whatever backburners he had. Flavius was now a few yards from Hecate, but so was Calvin. It didn't seem like enough though, Flavius was two long leaps away from sinking his vicious teeth into Hecate's throat…

… and somehow, Calvin collided with him just before he did, sending Flavius spiralling to one side. Once more, Calvin lay flat on the ground, winded by the effort. The bulky figure of Flavius stumbled back to his feet, disoriented from the sudden collision.

Calvin got onto one knee, the pain in his ribs now far more pronounced than before. He could barely muster the strength to lift his arms. But sitting temptingly and invitingly to his right was Snake's pistol. He didn't need to get stuck in with Flavius. Without sparing the idea any more thought, he grabbed the pistol and trained it on Flavius. The fox king, staring right down the barrel of a gun, stood completely still.

Calvin's index finger settled on the trigger.

It had all felt so natural - it'd been years since he'd fired a gun, but his hands knew exactly where to be placed. His shoulders were square like they always used to be, and the three fingers of his right hand coiled around the grip, covered by the four fingers of his left hand. It was the standard position, which would produce the expected outcome. All he had to do was pull the trigger.

Flavius stared back at him, his single golden eye now devoid of the malice it usually possessed. Instead, a wave of fear, pain, and… regret?… flooded in.

Flavius looked… he looked…

Just like Murellus.

"Do it," Snake said from behind him.

Calvin turned briefly to see where Snake was positioned. He was about thirty feet away from both Calvin and Hecate, but his voice seemed to boom across the cavern, sneaking into the hidden crevices of Calvin's soul and provoking the dark anger that harboured deep where Calvin never dared to look.

Calvin's hands began to shake as he continued to aim the gun at Flavius. He'd sworn never to kill again. Could he close an eye just this once? Just for Flavius?

Flavius' eye now no longer revealed his fear - he seemed calm, almost like he had accepted his fate. It was trained on Calvin, piercing directly through the cloud of hesitation and into Calvin's soul. It was almost as if he already knew what Calvin was going to do.

"I want him gone too," Snake said. "That was always the plan, Calvin. For you and I to take over this entire operation."

Calvin didn't respond. He kept his gaze fixed on the unflinching Flavius.

"We both know you're a killer," Snake continued. "He betrayed you. He deserves to die for that."

Calvin's hand shook more violently, his hands turning to jelly. His whole body began to tremble, wracked with the torment of decision, the burden of choice. He was a lone leaf dancing in a hurricane of violence, betrayal, and vengeance.

"Murellus and I are one and the same."

Flavius had told Calvin that when he had revealed his deception in the schemer tunnels years ago, and at the time Calvin had been so taken aback by the surprise that he hadn't really pondered over what Flavius was saying. But standing there in the cavern, with the power in his hands to take a life and end the war… the meaning behind those words had never been clearer.

Flavius was Murellus.

Fabius' words chimed in against the silence of the cavern.

"Keep fighting against the darkness at all costs. Because there is still good left in this world. And even if it's a fraction of what it should be, it's still worth fighting for."

There was still good in Flavius - he had to believe that. Even if nobody else saw it, even if nobody else thought it was worth fighting for, Calvin did. If he could change and give up a lifetime of killing, maybe Flavius could too. And even if he didn't… who was Calvin to decide that for him? He couldn't take Flavius' life without giving him a second chance. He couldn't take anyone's life without giving them that chance. His own life was proof of change.

Calvin unloaded the cartridge from the pistol and hurled it across the cavern. He turned to face Snake.

"I'm not a killer," he said defiantly. "Not anymore."

He then turned to look at Murellus, who seemed completely stunned by the decision. "You don't have to fight this war," Calvin said to him. "The Overlanders want to take everything from you. Don't let them."

For once, Murellus couldn't find the right words. His eye stared blankly at Calvin.

"Well," Snake said, brandishing a knife, "I can't say I'm not disappointed."

The mercenary began to walk towards Hecate. Calvin stood in front of her and reached into his belt again, but this time came up with nothing. He cursed himself for dropping the Taser in the earlier mayhem. He had no tools to defend himself against Snake.

As Snake strode forward with purpose, his face morphed into a bitter snarl. "You're no son of mine."

Calvin took a deep breath and tried to ignore the stabbing pain all over his body. "About time you realised," he replied.

Snake jabbed at Calvin twice, with Calvin sidestepping each jab. But Snake followed up with a violent upward slash, opening up a large gash on Calvin's forearm. Calvin barely had time to yell in pain. He tried to fire a counter-punch but Snake caught it with his other hand and twisted hard, spinning Calvin around and locking his elbow in an awkward position.

Snake then twisted the arm harder, and Calvin heard a pop.

Then the pain struck.

Gasping for air, Calvin felt an excruciating pain course through his entire arm. Feeling tears slip down his face, he sagged forward, feeling like his body now dangled from his arm. With his back turned entirely toward Snake, he couldn't even see the next move the rager pulled.

But he certainly felt it.

Snake drove the knife through his right side.

Calvin's gasps turned silent as the air rushed out of his lungs.

"CALVIN!" Hecate screamed.

Snake yanked the knife out and shoved him forward. Calvin crashed into Hecate and landed on his left side, which was a small mercy. Groaning in pain, he looked down at his right side. Snake had either found a gap in the vest or stabbed him with so much force the knife had penetrated the protective layer. Either way, it was soaked in Calvin's blood now.

Calvin sank backwards, leaning against Hecate and keeping her pinned down. He couldn't get up even if he tried. He was pretty sure Snake had dislocated his right elbow too.

Calvin's fight was done.

As he stared up at the ceiling, he finally began to see the stars he'd been searching the Underland's black sky for. He wanted to tell his dad he'd found them - it wasn't a black canvas anymore. He was almost home.

He was vaguely aware of Snake standing over him. "I gave you so many chances," the mercenary said. "It didn't have to be like this."

He ignored Snake. "Murellus!" he called out groggily, his vision becoming hazier by the second. "Remember… your family."

He heard nothing in response. Maybe Murellus couldn't or didn't hear him.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the coup de grâce.

"SNAKE!" someone bellowed in the background.

Calvin's eyes snapped open. Snake was no longer standing over him. In fact, the rager had turned away from him and was facing an entirely different direction. When Calvin craned his neck up to look, he saw why.

A warrior clad in black and a rat coated in blood stood in front of Snake and Murellus. All four ragers regarded each other quietly for what seemed like an eternity. Not a single word was uttered between them. The entire cavern seemed to dim slightly, almost out of respect for what it was about to witness.

Calvin blinked.

Without warning, all four ragers charged at each other.

Ok, so Calvin seeing Flavius as Murellus is a reference to the plot of the first story (terribly written but if you want a refresher, it's there for you to take a look). The words that Calvin recalls from Fabius are found in Chapter 24.

Right, no question for this chapter. The next chapter is the titular "Fall of Ragers". Let me know how you're feeling about it, and the end of this story in general!