A Keeper's Duty

The quarry was cast in shadows, one solitary figure slipped down into a cavern at the very bottom. Settling amongst the discarded machinery the boy removed his rucksack and opened it to smile at the contents: a book, decorated with ornate gold symbols. And various golden objects gleam in the light of his campfire, he relishes in their glow, savoring his greed.

He is unaware that a lone figure is watching him from the far shadows, but the figure does not make any move to confront him. It knows that this will be the final night of the boy's life.

Daylight, The quarry is bathed in the glow of midday sun. The boy mumbles in his sleep and turns over, his hand brushes the empty bag.
"What?!?" he gasps, he quickly searches through the cave, desperately looking for the glint of gold, or the shape of the book. He runs out into the light of day, and stops; a single figure is standing in the center of the pit.

"Hello Bastion," the figure says, he is tall and lean, dressed in a dark leather jacket, a red button down shirt, black undershirt, jeans and a pair of red Converses.

"Jonathan Halliwell? What are you doing here?" Bastion stammers,

"You know why I'm here, you broke the code, and as this area falls under my jurisdiction, it is my duty to see you are punished accordingly"

"NEVER!" Bastion screams, spikes of earth erupt from the ground, Jonathan leaps high into the air, and lands on a bulldozer. The air ripples and iron bars launch through the air towards the thief.

"Where did he go?" Rachel asked as she ran through the forest, her half-keeper abilities made her able to keep up with the two full-blooded keepers at the head of the group.

"He said that there was a rogue who had entered the area." Chad responded, the copper haired boy ran alongside another, much older man. The other was muscular, with close cur brown hair, and dark eyes. He was a head taller than Chad. He kept quiet as they sprinted further into the woods.

Jonathan looked calm as he unleashed chains of electrical energy towards the renegade keeper. "You slaughtered an entire village for a small handful of treasure!"

"They weren't doing anything with it; they just kept it in a case!" Bastion snapped,

Seeing that magic alone wasn't doing any good, Jonathan called forth a terrible weapon from his arsenal. Twin hooked chains emerged from his sleeves, the hooks glowing with an unearthly energy, which seemed to emit a faint scream.

"Those aren't…" Chad gasped; he and the others had just arrived on the edge of the quarry.
"So he really did defeat the god of the underworld" Zach mused, "And to think, I thought those statues were just coincidental.
"What are you talking about?" Rachel wondered as she watched Jonathan swing the flaming chains through the air.
'Those chains originally belonged to Death himself, used to corral the souls of the damned, and drag them into hell forever." Zach informed, "But Hades, the god of the underworld took them for his own twisted use"

"Legend has it, that a mortal man came into Hades' palace, and challenged him to a battle of the wits, the prize being the chains, or the man's soul, claiming he could outwit the god and escape the underworld" Chad drew in the sand with a stick, illustrating his point. "The man challenged the god that he could fire an arrow, and hit the center of the target blindfolded. And then challenged Hades to do it himself"

"When he proved his ability, Hades snatched the blindfold away, and promptly tied it about his eyes, unbeknownst to him; the man had switched the cloths, the one the god bore had been soaked in tree sap, sticking it to the god's face. Quickly, the man snatched the helm of darkness and the chains of Hades as well. Unseen by all, he slipped past Cerberus, and escaped the underworld. Leaving the helm just outside its gates. Hades was furious, but having accepted the wager, and sworn on the river Styx. He was powerless to stop him" Zach finished.

Rachel realized just who the man in the story was, "Jonathan faced off with a god, and survived?"

"Yes, but I daresay that that other boy will not live to see tomorrow" Zach mused.

Jonathan lashed out with the burning chains; the metal of the claws caught Bastion in the back, and dug deep into his flesh. "These claws have always been used to punish the wicked, but I have gifted them with a new power." He hissed the claws slowly began to pull back; a golden mist seemed to come forth from bastions body as well.

The thief realized what was happening, "No... Please!"

With one final yank, Jonathan ripped the golden energy from Bastion's body. "You slaughtered an entire village of innocent mortal souls for your own gain, your immortality is now. Forfeit"

Bastion lashed out once more with the last of his power, blowing a clean hole in Jonathan's chest, right over his heart. The Keeper staggered away, trailing crimson behind him.

Bastion laughed as his body began to glow with golden energy, he was going to burn and return good as new, but he realized something as the process began…
"It hurts…" it slowly dawned on him just what Jonathan had done to him. "Oh god… it hurts…" his body was slowly dissolving into golden energy. "Somebody, anybody, HELP ME!" he screamed in pure agony as his body burned away and disappeared. All that was left was a few scorched bits of fabric, and a pile of ashes, his final scream echoed in the quarry.

Zach, Chad, and Rachel ran down to Jonathan, the wounded keeper was beginning to shine with gold light too.

"That was one helluva fight" Zach smiled,
"Impressive, I never knew you could actually use those things" Chad indicated to the chains.

Jonathan's form exploded with a blast of golden energy, when the light faded his wounds was healed, only a hole in his shirt remained.

"What exactly did you do to him?" Rachel wondered, indicating to the scorch marks that marked Bastion's death.
"I removed his ability to re-form his body, and forced him to burn." Jonathan said, "Without being able to re-form, he just burned away to nothing. A terrible fate, but he brought it on himself"
"Isn't there any other punishment possible?" Rachel asked,
"Normally yes, but he slaughtered so many pure souls, men, women and children, young and old. Burned their village to ash" he sighed, "I couldn't allow him to get away with that"

Rachel looked into Jonathan's eyes, somehow she knew that he had done this before, and that somewhere deep inside, he wished he hadn't…