For a long moment after the Bone King fell, no one moved.
The battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
Mist drifted slowly across the shattered bones, curling around the lifeless corpse.
The severed crown lay half-buried in dust, its hollow sockets staring at nothing.
Then;
"HE DID IT!"
Henry's voice shattered the silence.
The boy burst , waving his arms wildly as he ran across the battlefield.
"We won! We actually won! Did you see that? Mauris cut his head clean off!"
He spun in circles, nearly slipping on loose bone fragments, laughing breathlessly as he pointed back and forth between the fallen monster and the exhausted warriors.
Mauris barely heard him.
He stood several steps from the corpse, bent forward with both hands on his knees.
His chest heaved.
Each breath came sharp and ragged, mist curling from his mouth as if his lungs were burning.
The sword still hung loosely in his hand, its edge dark with blackened blood.
For several seconds he simply stared at the ground, trying to steady the violent rhythm of his heart.
Across the field, Frauner tried to rise.
His hand pressed into the ground.
He pushed.
His body lifted halfway;
Then his strength failed.
The world tilted.
Frauner dropped back down with a heavy thud, breath leaving him in a harsh groan.
"…Damn it."
His chest still ached where the kick had struck.
His arms trembled violently from exhaustion.
He sat there instead, shoulders slumped, one knee raised, head hanging forward as he struggled to regain control of his breathing.
Boots scraped softly across the bone-covered ground.
A shadow stepped beside them.
Mauris.
He had finally walked over, his breathing calmer now though his chest still rose heavily.
For a moment he said nothing.
Then he extended the sword.
Frauner looked up.
Mauris placed the weapon back into his hand.
"You threw it well," Mauris said simply.
Frauner gripped the hilt again, nodding once.
Nearby, Henry was still moving everywhere at once.
He hopped onto a fallen rib bone, then jumped down again, pacing excitedly across the battlefield.
"We actually killed it!" he shouted again, unable to contain himself. "Did you see his face when the spear hit him?! And when the head..."
He stopped only long enough to stare at the fallen body again.
Then he grinned widely.
"We really did it."
Leah wiped sweat from her brow and turned back toward the battlefield.
A few steps away, Thalia was still on one knee, steadying herself with one hand against the ground. The broken halves of her bow lay nearby.
Leah walked toward her and extended her hand.
"Come on," she said softly.
Thalia looked up, breathing hard, then took her hand.
Leah pulled her to her feet.
For a moment they simply stood there, catching their breath, the fading mist drifting around them.
Then both of them looked toward Frauner.
He was still sitting on the ground where he had fallen, Mauris standing nearby.
Leah and Thalia began walking toward him together.
Their boots crunched softly across scattered bone fragments.
Frauner looked up as they approached.
Leah stopped right in front of him.
For a second she didn't say anything.
Then suddenly she stepped forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him.
Frauner blinked in surprise.
Leah held him firmly, her voice low and trembling slightly.
"Thank you… Frauner."
He frowned slightly.
"For what?"
"For staying with me," she said quietly. "For supporting me back there… when things got bad."
Frauner exhaled slowly.
"You would've done the same."
Leah pulled back slightly but kept her hands on his shoulders.
Her eyes were soft now.
"You always say that like it's nothing."
Frauner gave a faint, tired smirk.
"That's because it is nothing."
She shook her head.
"No. It isn't."
For a brief moment neither of them spoke.
Then Leah's hand shifted slightly against his back.
Her fingers brushed across something wet.
She frowned.
Slowly she pulled her hand away.
Her palm was red.
Blood.
Her eyes widened.
"…Frauner?"
He noticed the sudden change in her expression.
"What?"
Leah's breathing quickened.
She moved around behind him.
And froze.
Across the back of his armor was a deep, jagged cut.
The metal plates had been torn open.
Dark blood soaked through the torn steel and cloth beneath, running down his back.
Still flowing.
Still fresh.
"Oh my.."
Her voice cracked.
"Frauner!"
Thalia stepped forward quickly, seeing Leah's shock.
"What happened?"
Then she saw it too.
The wound.
Leah stared at it in disbelief.
Her voice trembled.
"Frauner… you're bleeding a lot."
Frauner slowly turned his head, looking at Leah's face.
Her eyes were wide with fear.
He followed her gaze slightly, realizing what she had seen.
For a moment he said nothing.
Then he looked back at her.
"…Ah."
His voice was quiet.
"So that's why I feel cold."
Henry heard Leah's voice from across the battlefield.
"Frauner… you're bleeding a lot."
He slowed.
His excited pacing stopped.
From the distance he turned his head toward them.
Frauner sitting on the ground.
Leah crouched beside him.
Thalia and Mauris standing nearby.
Henry tilted his head slightly, curiosity replacing the wild joy on his face.
Then he noticed it.
The fog.
It was growing.
Slowly at first.
Thin strands of white mist crawling across the broken battlefield like searching fingers.
It thickened around the fallen bones.
Around the corpse of the Bone King.
Around Henry's boots.
Thalia noticed it too.
Her head snapped up.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Henry!"
He looked at her.
"Come here!"
Henry blinked once, then began jogging toward them.
The fog rose higher.
First to his ankles.
Then his knees.
Then his waist.
Each step he took seemed to sink deeper into the mist.
From where they stood, Leah and Mauris could only see the upper half of him now.
Shoulders.
Head.
Arms cutting through the pale white air as he ran.
The fog thickened further.
Rolling like slow waves.
Now it swallowed his chest.
Only his shoulders and face remained visible.
Henry slowed.
Then stopped.
He stood there in the fog.
Not moving.
Thalia frowned.
"Henry?"
No response.
The mist swirled around him.
"HENRY!" she shouted again, sharper this time.
Still he did not move.
His eyes were wide.
Too wide.
Mauris felt it then.
A cold tightening in his gut.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Henry's mouth opened slightly.
As if he was about to speak.
As if he had just seen something behind him.
Then;
Three long fingers emerged from the fog behind his head.
They were thin.
Unnaturally long.
Jointed wrong.
Ending in curved black claws.
They slid over his mouth.
Clamping it shut.
Henry's eyes exploded with terror.
"Mmm!"
Before anyone could react....
The fog behind him surged.
A violent pull.
His body snapped backward.
His feet left the ground.
He vanished into the white like something yanked by an unseen chain.
His arms flailed once..
Then the mist swallowed him completely.
Gone.
Only the fog remained.
Rolling slowly.
As if nothing had happened at all.