Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

found you. I claim as king‟s right the sacrifice. Know that I do this in love for you, and be healed by it.”
    Before Justice could react, Conlan lifted a dagger to his own throat and pressed the blade into his flesh. Ven‟s reaction was much quicker, however, as he snarled out a warning and knocked Conlan‟s blade from his hand. “You will not, you damned fool! I told you, if anybody is sacrificing himself for our brother, it‟s going to be me.”
    With that, Ven twisted so that he was under Conlan‟s arm, and he forced Conlan‟s hand up until the dagger, still clenched in Conlan‟s fist, cut into Ven‟s throat. A line of vividly scarlet blood oozed from underneath the blade, mesmerizing Justice with its vibrant color.
    Vibrancy. Life. The lives that both of his brothers were willing to sacrifice for him . The realization knocked him out of the strange trance caused by the sight of the dripping blood.
    “No. No! You cannot. I will not have it. I will not have your lives upon my conscience. I am not, and never have been, worthy of your sacrifice.”
    But either they didn‟t hear him, or they ignored him, because they were fighting over the dagger. Fighting each other over who would die so that he could return home.
    Agony wrenched like cold steel through his chest at the thought of either of them dying on his behalf. “No,” he shouted again. “I will not have it. I am returning to the Void, so any sacrifice you make would be in vain. Lower your blade, and do not continue with this course of stupidity.”
    He forced a mocking sarcasm that he did not feel into his voice. “You are such fools, the both of you. I am almost ashamed to call you my brothers. Leave off this madness now. I gladly return to the Void to escape your maudlin sacrificial tendencies.”
    And then, in an act of courage beyond any he‟d known in all of his centuries, he raised his head to take one last look at Keely. He drank in the sight of her—the glorious red hair he would never touch, the lush body he would never feel next to his own. “Remember me, my lady. That is all I ask of you for this or any lifetime. Remember me, although you never knew me, for I feel that I have known you for all eternity and hungered for you for even longer, still.”
    With that, he turned to walk away, fighting every instinct that he possessed. His mind and heart and soul screamed at him that he could not leave her. And yet his honor knew that he could not allow his brothers to make the ultimate sacrifice for him.
    As he turned, sword still held out in front of him, forgotten, Pharnatus blocked his way. “No „cast-off bastard‟ would occasion such loyalty on the part of his brothers,” he said, a simple dignity shining on his twisted features. “You are a messenger of the gods, although you do not know the truth of yourself. You are the emissary of my deliverance from darkness, from Anubisa, and from meaningless death.”
    At that moment, Pharnatus gasped and lifted his head to stare in wide-eyed terror at something over Justice‟s shoulder. Justice whirled around to see what new threat had arrived, but before he‟d even begun to turn his body toward Anubisa‟s damnable portal, a sudden and ominous weight shoved itself onto him.
    Reflexively, he bent his knees to catch Pharnatus as the man fell into his arms. But, looking down, Justice realized that his sword was buried to the hilt in Pharnatus‟s abdomen, and he threw his head back and howled his despair to the throbbing red sky.
    “To any gods who are listening, know this,” the Greek said, straining to shape each word, his face contorted in a shining combination of agony and exultation. “I do this of my own free will, and my sacrifice must release Lord Justice from his imprisonment.”
    Justice screamed and pulled the sword out of Pharnatus, as the man collapsed into his grasp.
    “No! Not for me! Never for me! I don‟t deserve your sacrifice,” he cried out, his own tears pouring down his face. “You cannot do this.”
    “I have done it,” Pharnatus said, voice fading. “And it is now for you to live your life with the knowledge of it. The knowledge that you are worthy, and the gods have chosen you for a reason.”
    With that, a joy suffused the Greek‟s face, and he held up his arms as though to an unseen herald. “Alexander, my lord, you have come for me,” he cried.
    With one last shuddering breath, Pharnatus closed his eyes and died.
    A giant booming noise slammed