If one was to look into the cosmos, they would se many distant stars and the inky black of the emptiness of space.
But what may seem inconsequential at first glance may just be more than one would ever imagine. So many different worlds lay out in the sea of the void and so many of them hold life unknown to most of the other beings that populate the universe. But no matter where you are many believe in higher powers or certain beings of immense strength, be it invisible forces beyond comprehension or gods amongst mortals.
But not all powerful beings are destined to be worshipped or loved. Some are hated. Some were betrayed. Some only wish to do the right thing but ending up doing the opposite.
But even amongst them there were outcasts, different from the rest of the bunch. Be it naturally gifted mortals having powers to rival gods or people filled with so much suffering that they worked themselves to their last breath to gain the power they need to overcome their grief or to get revenge.
And on one planet in a distant frozen galaxy covered by a sky darkened by the ash and soot of a fierce battle lay one of said outcasts.
The brimstone witch: Calamitas.
And she was terrified.
Calamitas had lived through many battles… no, slaughters thanks to her godlike power and control of her brimstone magic and always come out on top.
Be it burning an entire ocean destroying Ilmeris, a constitutional kingdom ruled under the at the time seventeenth King Amidas, and turning it into a lifeless desert in the process or ruining the grand city of Azafure during her one sided battle with the brimstone elemental in the underworld, nothing really opposed her anymore.
She even could surpass the jungle tyrant and the devourer if she pushed herself.
But that pers- CREATURE in front of her right now was a different story entirely.
Clad in armor made of auric steel and weapons able to break the fabrics of nature and reality, she knew this person would be no pushover.
She had observed this slayer after all.
From the moment they had destroyed the plague that was the moon lord they caught her full attention.
And slay they did.
The profaned goddess? Extinguished
The feral amalgamation of souls? Laid to rest
The Devourer and it’s servants? Defeated
The dragon of rebirth? Slain
And the magnum opuses made by the smartest scientist to have ever been, rivaling even her strength? Scrapped like a wulfrum rover.
And now they set their eyes on their ultimate goal: killing the jungle tyrant.
Calamitas was his last major defence.
And she was in the way of the goal of the unstoppable beast known to them as only the Terrarian.
And while she knew that there was no end to the ferocity of the Terrarian that did not mean she could try to live and slay the slayer herself.
She used her full arsenal, from abominations of necromancy to her brimstone magic, she did not hold back.
But no matter what she did, no matter wha she tries, it was all pointless in the end.
Be it the sepulcher, a soulless abomination made from countless lives lost, who died as soon as the hearts keeping it alive were shredded.
The brimstone magic barrages and the whispering maelstrom were masterfully evaded.
Her resurrected brothers, while letting her rest a bit, turned to ashes upon the might of the Terrarian.
And now, she was out of tricks.
As the magic barrier around her started to fade with her exhaustion the Terrarian held strong, even if damaged.
She may have been beaten, but the Terrarian was not triumphing her without having taken a beating themselves. The once pristine auric armor was slagged in many different places, exposing parts of charred skin. And Calamitas did see the Terrarian chug many health potions during their battle, as well as retreating while invisible to recover if sufficiently damaged, even if the invisibility did not hide their presence from the brimstone witch.
But alas, the witch lost.
Magic completely drained and no way of retaliation left calamitas kneeling before the armored rogue. She never felt this weak ever before except for when she watched helplessly as her family died in front of her eyes. She thought it impossible for that ever so old part of her to resurface even in the most dire situations but the Terrarian broke all rules of nature anyways. Seeing them still poised for battle she called out.
„Just stop!“
And surprisingly, the Terrarian indeed did just that, gazing at the defeated witch through the still somewhat intact auric headgear.
„I have no future anymore.“
She knew that the moment the barrier broke that her fate had been sealed. She would just be another stepping stool in the wake of the Terrarian on their mission.
„I’ve lost, and that leaves you with only one path forward.“
She knew their mission. The one thing that kept them going until now. And it was a sad one at that.
„That path you chose… also does not have a future.“
Slaying the tyrant might have been their end goal but regardless of wether they perish or prevail the end result would be the same.
Nothing would change
„I know.“
She thought she misheard, but as Calamitas looked up she could not believe what she was seeing. The Terrarian had not only spoken for the first time since the start of their duel, but was also offering a hand.
They were offering it to her.
„Even if he has thrown all else away, his power remains.“
She warned them still in disbelief that the fearsome slayer did not for once in their life do what they were meant for.
„Then all I have to do is to surpass even him. That is all I had to do ever since the beginning of this journey of mine.“
Even with the robotic filter of the headgear they wore calamitas could make out the sincerity in their voice. The sheer determination and dedication to their cause that got them so far in the first place.
„But why spare me? After everything I’ve done…“
She was a murderer, an insane witch that caused nothing but destruction and death everywhere she went. She had killed most living creatures of anyone on this planet, destroyed so many eco systems to make certain animals or monsters either extinct or adapt until nothing of the original remained.
In other words: the Terrarian had every right to end her right now, yet they did not.
„I can not argue about that fact.“ the rogue stated simply. „Yet you show regret and disdain towards your actions, and I can’t say I’ve vested anyone who thinks that way before. And with how everyone else talked about you I am inclined to believe that even you can change for the better. You know, Permafrost misses you?“
Hearing the name of her former mentor pushed a twinge of hate up calamitas, yet the spark never caught fire in the winds of freedom that now graced the witch. No longer would she need to abide by the tyrant’s commands. And in that moment a feeling so old that she once gave up on resurfaced anew.
Hope
And so the Terrarian watched the brimstone witch with their hand still outstretched. The molten auric slag was beginning to harden again after the heat of battle subsided. Slightly winching from a piece that flaked of their skin seemed to bring calamitas back from her train of thought, as she started to lower her hood revealing the dirty white hair as well as the horns the ashborn possessed.
„I have no more energy left to resent him, or you anymore…“
Taking the hand the Terrarian offered to her the armored rogue pulled her up to her feet, bringing them eye to eye.
„It will be all in your hands now, as will I.“
Glancing at the now unhooded witch the Terrarian observed a smile forming on the ashen skinned face of the witch as she shifted and grabbed ahold of their armored hand.
„Im glad that this did not have to end in a needless death“ the Terrarian acknowledged „but if you wish to stay, are there any preferences as to where? I will have to build a new home since all the others are already occupied.“
Thinking for a little under a minute as they moved away from the ground zero of their encounter calamitas answered.
„A lone cabin in the woods would be nice“
And so they ended up exchanging tales as the stars began to shine through the clearing night sky.
And so concluded one of Terraria’s greatest battles, with not a bang, but with two equally miserable souls walking towards a hopefully brighter future.
