" You fall through the trees;
You pray with your knees on the ground;
For the things that you { n e e d } "
S l i p p i n g -- he was slipping. Darkness was swallowing him whole; enveloping his broken form in shadows and the regrets of all the lies he’d ever told, fights he’d ever picked, hearts he’d ever broken. Everything, he regretted, that he had done… it all flashed before his eyes. Maybe he did deserve this. If he did, he would have accepted this fate to pay for all of his crimes. Every single one. Every single death in this cave that was caused by him.

" With your lust and your greed weighing down;
You weaken your love and you hold it above your head;
{ S u c c e s s } is a song of the heart, not a song of your bed "
But there was those lives in the cave that could have died without Azazel. Those whose first days that could have been filled with peril and sickness if he hadn’t taught them the basics of Origin Cave. And even those who’d done the same for him. Those who had been his friends, despite his love for bones and strange antics. His sense of dominance and kingship. His idea of hit-and-run, and picking fights with all of the golems that he could.

" And we all still die;
Yeah, we all still { d i e } "
It should be his time. His end. But it was a beginning. A new one, and a fresh start. Maybe he’d have enough magicka left in himself to be reborn from his gem. He could have a new life… a new hope. Maybe others would be willing to sacrifice their power to give life to his stone, just as he had given life to those of many others. Those who had cared. Those who had loved. Those who had lived. Every time he’d fallen, those people would help, not stand idly by.

" What will you leave behind?
Oh, we all { s t i l l } die "
If The Bone King gave in. He could never walk again. He could never fly again. He'd fade from existence. He'd never be forgotten by his friends, but he'd fade away no matter what. His magicka would dissipate after his stone fled his body. He could walk as a ghost. But would it be worth it? Only to be translucent and unable to be seen by those who never met him? What of The Bonebound.

" You fall through the trees;
You pray with your knees on the ground;
For the things that you { n e e d } "

Why. Why had he ever gone for the golems... trying to prove everyone wrong in the way that there isn't anything that's impossible. Amongst the first Gembound in this cave... and he would fall to his own stupidity, his own failure.

" With your lust and your greed weighing down;
You weaken your love and you hold it above your head;
{ S u c c e s s } is a song of the heart, not a song of your bed "
At least he had tried. At least he had held onto life... the last scraps of it that he could manage to cling to with his talons. This was it. He knew it. He'd tried so hard, maybe too hard...

" And we all still die;
Yeah, we all still { d i e } "
Darkness creeped in on his vision.

" What will you leave behind?
Oh, we all { s t i l l } die "
And he felt weak and tired.

" Marching away from the stream
This tree, it will die { w i t h o u t } leaves "
Blinking, he twisted his head upwards painfully. Tears stung at his eyes, and he took in the faces of those around him. Bevy... Krakarak... Leon... The Bonebound... his friends. Those he'd cherished and served to protect. Each and every one had tears staining their cheeks a darker shade, eyes dull and sad. He looked down at his chest, where a gaping hole had begun to pulse blood from his heart. The sanguine fluid dripped methodically down on the cave floor, spreading in a circle about him.

" Marching away from the stream
This tree, it will { d i e } without leaves "
This was his finale. Maybe he'd see everyone again. For now, all he could muster between ragged breaths was his final words. "I'm... sorry." He wasn't sure what there was to be sorry about. But there was something that he felt like he needed to aplogize for.

" This tree, it will die;
This tree, it { w i l l } die "
The Bonebound would surely fall... but hopefully they would be alright.

" And we all still die;
Yeah, we all still { d i e } "
His friends would be depressed and mourn, but they'd heal over time.

" What will you leave behind?
Oh, we all { s t i l l } die "
His gem would be fought over, but it was a piece of him that could be kept.

" And we all still die;
Yeah, we all still { d i e } "
He could be born again. For how, he'd fall into the embrace of death.

" What will you leave behind?
Oh, we all { s t i l l } die "
It was time. A gentle orange glow formed about his stone, spreading like veins around his skin. Lights danced, a small breeze grew. The world shrank smaller and smaller into a pinprick of light. It faded away, and so did the glow. His gem had escaped from it's post at the base of his tail feathers.It fell with a small clatter on the floor, rolling away from his broken body.

Azazel, The Bone King... was gone.