"Where are the chains Azurius?"

No answer fell from his lips, only the ragged gasps of his own beleaguered breath. Life was ebbing from his flesh. He could feel the ice grip of death's inevitable embrace reaching out for him. All that remained was the bitter bile of his brother's betrayal and the soul-scouring hatred that flowed from that single memory.

"You killed our mother." Azurius vomited those words out, their very taste sending his stomach to spasm. "You destroyed our family, ruined my life and now you have the gall to beg my forgiveness. I will give you nothing!"

There was no need to open his eyes; he could feel the shade recoil at his words. Even if the Gods would not damn his brother's acts, he would. He could not scrape away the decades of spiraling ruin or the ravaged tatters of his own soul. "I will not beg the Gods to live." Azurius reached out, forcing himself to ascend slowly once more. He cackled, the staccato rhythm of his breath deforming the laugh into a panicked gasp. "No brother, I shall beg them to cast you into some terrible pit of torments. You must be made to taste what my life has become."

"You will only destroy yourself. Take my hand brother; believe me as you once did."

Azurius flinched away, neither able to pry open his eyes nor to force himself forward. The weight of his own body was too much for him. His limbs quivered and would soon lose what little strength remained. "I will never trust you again." He spat, the phlegm tinged with blood and dark mucus. "You should have killed me that day. I saw you in mother's garden, a stained sword in your hands as you stood over her."

"I did not take her life, Azurius," the shade pleaded, its watery voice drawing thin. "I loved her, brother."

"Why did you spare me?" Tears traced the dusty canals of Azurius's face, spattering onto the cold slate below. He could not hold them back any longer, nor the flood of confusion that chased through him. "If you held any love for me brother, you would have killed me then."

"I saved your life, brother."

The shade's words struck him hard, battering against the scabbed ruin of his heart. He clenched his hands about himself, the cold grip of the wind biting deep.

"The Emperor's men--"

"Liar!" Azurius rocked slowly, his yellowed nails tracing bloody groves across thin ribs. "You murdered her. Your blade ended her life! I saw you."

"The purple cloaks murdered her, brother."

He would not, could not accept the shade's words. The Emperor would not reward his family's loyal service with the kiss of a sword. His father had died defending the empire, as had his father before him.