In this dimension, filled with the hum and brightness of aetherial Light, silence prevailed; that is, save for the sound of heavy boots thumping on the marble floor and the clinking of chains against armor.
They told him that he was the only one able to stop him. He knew this must have been a part of some ploy to get rid of him, and he didn’t care. What mattered was that they told him where his friend was, and to his friend he shall go.
As the endless hallway began to narrow, the light began to become impossibly bright, enough to where he found that he has to shield his eyes before continuing any further. Only when the fingertips of his outstretched hands brushed a soft fabric that he stopped walking.
A curtain. He deftly moved it upward and removed the hand from his eyes when he found that the light began to dim slightly.
The room before him was cavernous. The ceiling had fallen away to reveal the skies and endless light above. There were similar curtains of sheer fabric draped around the room - a simple decoration to the white and gold marble columns and floor below his feet. And there, at the center of the room with what appeared to be a kind of altar, he found him.
Rune no longer looked the way he used to, and yet he knew it was still him. His figure was slouched over the marble altar, his head resting on his arms against its surface as if he was merely taking a nap over a desk. His once-raven hair was now a lifeless white, and the color of his skin matched the white of the room that cocooned him. Even from this distance, Zenos could tell he was not breathing.
During this very moment, he felt as if millions of eyes were on him, and even still, he could not bring himself to care. There he was. His dearest friend.
The pressure of a million gazes seemed to lighten on his shoulders once Rune looked upward from where he lay against the altar.
“You’re here,” he spoke, and his voice reverbated as if others with his same voice spoke with him at the same time. Even then, he felt his surprise. At this, Zenos gave him a smile.
“At the end of everything, I find you, my friend.”