Eternal
As much as you’d like to get the hell out of here, you’re in no condition to fight. You’re practically on the verge of falling unconscious. You take a risk and open up the door.
You step inside and find yourself in some sort man sized wooden structure, almost like a box. Upon further inspection the top of it opens up and it basically is a box, though its really just an elaborate structure to blend in with the other wooden boxes in the storage room you appear to be in. The storage room proper also consists of a lot of barrels and other assorted junk. It’s not very big and the junk just makes it cluttered, though there is a single door that leads out.
You have no intention of doing that though; you just need to rest a bit. You close up the passage entrance behind you and sit down in one of the corners of the “box” you’re in. Yes, you just need to rest a moment, and then you’ll be fine…
You find yourself in total darkness without your senses again.
“That last bit seems to have put you out. Just think how much easier this would’ve been if you had served me. Your magic wouldn’t cause you to feel so drained and it would be a lot stronger as well. Of course if you were following me, you wouldn’t be engaging in this elaborate duplicity.” Dendrin says
“Duplicity? Your worshippers are dedicated to duplicity! You accuse me of such things, when you are doing nothing but reveling in such behavior! I am merely serving the Empire as I was always meant to. You on the other hand are supposed to be a god to your followers yet you do nothing to warn them.” you reply.
“My reasons for how I treat my followers are my own and you are not worthy to know them.”
“Worthy…like the rest of your worshippers that blindly follow you into destruction?”
“No…but are you really so much different? You follow the Emperor blindly and he is just a man, at least the shadows are wise enough to revere a superior being. You believe you are superior to the shadows, but you are not. You do not see the flaws and that is why you’ve earned no explanation. Not because you aren’t a true shadow, but because of your own lack of vision. You will eventually see though, if not now then later. Of course by then it will be much too late. I’m sure we will speak again, no matter how much you deny me and crusade against the shadows, we will forever be linked…for as long as you’re alive anyway.”
You suddenly wake up. After a moment of grogginess, you suddenly remember where you are. The Felkan palace! How long have you been asleep? You have no idea, but you’ve really dodged an arrow if nobody found you sleeping right in the heart of the enemy territory! You quickly open up the passage door again and it would appear that the coast is clear. Remembering what the young royal you killed earlier said you make your way to the exit that leads outside. Once again you expect there to be soldiers placed at the exit, but there are none. The Felkans must think you escaped already, either that or they’re very poor at security, either one doesn’t surprise you at this point.
It’s about noon, and you’ve undoubtedly kept your “fellow” shadows waiting, if they are still waiting at all. They probably think you were killed along with Dusk. You have no idea if they know anything about the assassination, but you’re guessing they probably left before you completed your task. In any event, you’ve still got the job of killing them three and you don’t know if you’re going to get the chance now. Lacking a better idea, you head to the meeting point and hope that they’re still there.
You finally get there just as it starts to get late in the day. No Felkan patrols in the area, but you still cautiously enter the woods. You aren’t completely out of luck as you see Murk pacing back and forth, looking around nervously.
“Murk, where are the others?” you say, causing him to jump and nearly point his armbow at you.
“Brother! You’re alive! Thank Dendrin!” he says with a bit of joy, though he look visibly upset.
“It wasn’t easy, but where are the others?”
“Talia went on ahead and assumed you and Dusk were dead. Bianca…she…(sniffle) didn’t make it.” He quickly wipes his eyes when he tells you.
“Oh.”
“I don’t understand, everything was going well and were already on our way to escaping, then all of a sudden there were Felkan soldiers everywhere! Bianca got shot in the back, by one of those infernal Felkan weapons! (sniffle) I know she didn’t see me as a potential mate, but I always hoped one day that…(sob)…sorry brother…I know there are more important things right now.”
“It’s understandable brother, but how long ago did Talia leave?”
“She left not long after we arrived here which was this morning. She’s probably already in Empire territory by now. I stayed just to make sure we hadn’t lost any more people. I had to hope. I’m glad to see you alive, but I hesitate to ask… Dusk isn’t with you. Did she fall as well?”
“Yes.”
“(Sigh) Another loss. Well as grim as this has been, I suppose we should get used to it in the coming months when we finally strike against the Empire properly. There are going to be a lot of our brothers and sisters that will probably fall in the cause of Dendrin.”
“Well you’re right and wrong about that Murk.” You say, approaching him.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re right that a lot of shadows will fall in the cause of Dendrin…you’re wrong about thinking that I’d really consider any of you traitors to be my siblings!” you say and quickly grab him towards you and stab him in the stomach. The look of shock overwhelms him.
“Wh…why broth…er…wh…” he sputters before you finish him off with a snap of his neck.
You look down at Murk’s dead body and you feel nothing for him. You remember the times you nearly killed him before, but hesitated. Perhaps this is a good sign that you’re finally getting all these lingering feelings out of your system. Well three out of four were taken out, still not good enough though and you doubt if you’ll get to Talia in time for her to make her report to Master Ebon or Brother Gray. Still you have to try, so you make your journey right away and leave the body of Murk behind.
You push your magic to the limit to speed your yourself up, you just hope Talia isn’t doing the same; it’s going to be hard enough to track her. You’re going to take a wild guess that she’ll probably use the same route you took to get to the Felkan border, at least you hope so.
Night falls and you’ve made good time by getting into Empire territory as quickly as you have, but you’re getting incredibly exhausted. Even if you do get to Talia, you aren’t even sure you’ll have the energy to take her. You continue to press on though.
“I will NOT be stopped by Dendrin’s petty favor of magic. My mind WILL overcome and I WILL use the gifts he gave me against him!” You mutter to yourself.
Night eventually passes into day again and you manage get just outside the town of Lenet which is the closest town to Gloom. You still haven’t seen Talia, and can only hope she hasn’t made it to Gloom yet. In the meantime you feel horrible at this point and on the verge of passing out. You decide to head over to a small river that you know nearby and hope that some water will perk you up or at least prevent you from falling unconscious again.
You retch and cough the whole time you drag yourself to the river. Finally you collapse nearly face first into the damned river. You look at your reflection which is just inches away from your face and you nearly see a stranger looking back.
“What the…” you say to yourself.
Your reflection doesn’t display the age that you know yourself to be, but rather that of an older you. You put your hands to your face and can feel the wrinkle lines. You hadn’t been noticing before, but you look at your hands and see how weathered they look. This overuse of shadow magic has taken its toll on your body. You may have even shortened your life span, you have no idea.
“Brother! What are you doing over there by the river? Are you sick?” you hear a familiar voice ask.
You turn around and see Talia. You must’ve somehow unknowingly passed her in your rush to reach her, since she is coming from the same direction you were. When she sees you, her surprise nearly matches that of Murk when you killed him.
“You’re…alive! But…what happened to you? Your face! Some of your hair is white! What manner of magic did this?” she asks out of concern and begins to approach you.
You look at Talia one last time as a fellow Eternal that once held the ideals of the Empire. There is so much you could say to her, but there really wouldn’t be any point. Better to just get this over before you get overcome with feeling again.
You forgot to reload your armbow, but fortunately you still have the flintlock that you took from the young royal. You hope it’s reliable, because you don’t have the energy to fight her.
Without another word, you pull out the flintlock and shoot it straight at Talia’s head. She falls instantly when she’s hit. You slowly stagger up and walk over to her and see that a good portion of the top left side of her head has been blown off. The deadness in her eyes is apparent, as are the brains leaking out.
Mission accomplished.
You stumble into the town of Lenet and make arrangements for a carriage to take you to the capital. From there you hope you can contact Mr. Mol. For now though you’re going to sleep the whole way there and hope you don’t get some annoying visit from Dendrin, because as of now you’ve finally freed yourself of the shadows.
As far as your concerned the only time you want to be in their presence again is to face them in battle as a proper enemy and you are looking forward to that in the near future.
You step inside and find yourself in some sort man sized wooden structure, almost like a box. Upon further inspection the top of it opens up and it basically is a box, though its really just an elaborate structure to blend in with the other wooden boxes in the storage room you appear to be in. The storage room proper also consists of a lot of barrels and other assorted junk. It’s not very big and the junk just makes it cluttered, though there is a single door that leads out.
You have no intention of doing that though; you just need to rest a bit. You close up the passage entrance behind you and sit down in one of the corners of the “box” you’re in. Yes, you just need to rest a moment, and then you’ll be fine…
You find yourself in total darkness without your senses again.
“That last bit seems to have put you out. Just think how much easier this would’ve been if you had served me. Your magic wouldn’t cause you to feel so drained and it would be a lot stronger as well. Of course if you were following me, you wouldn’t be engaging in this elaborate duplicity.” Dendrin says
“Duplicity? Your worshippers are dedicated to duplicity! You accuse me of such things, when you are doing nothing but reveling in such behavior! I am merely serving the Empire as I was always meant to. You on the other hand are supposed to be a god to your followers yet you do nothing to warn them.” you reply.
“My reasons for how I treat my followers are my own and you are not worthy to know them.”
“Worthy…like the rest of your worshippers that blindly follow you into destruction?”
“No…but are you really so much different? You follow the Emperor blindly and he is just a man, at least the shadows are wise enough to revere a superior being. You believe you are superior to the shadows, but you are not. You do not see the flaws and that is why you’ve earned no explanation. Not because you aren’t a true shadow, but because of your own lack of vision. You will eventually see though, if not now then later. Of course by then it will be much too late. I’m sure we will speak again, no matter how much you deny me and crusade against the shadows, we will forever be linked…for as long as you’re alive anyway.”
You suddenly wake up. After a moment of grogginess, you suddenly remember where you are. The Felkan palace! How long have you been asleep? You have no idea, but you’ve really dodged an arrow if nobody found you sleeping right in the heart of the enemy territory! You quickly open up the passage door again and it would appear that the coast is clear. Remembering what the young royal you killed earlier said you make your way to the exit that leads outside. Once again you expect there to be soldiers placed at the exit, but there are none. The Felkans must think you escaped already, either that or they’re very poor at security, either one doesn’t surprise you at this point.
It’s about noon, and you’ve undoubtedly kept your “fellow” shadows waiting, if they are still waiting at all. They probably think you were killed along with Dusk. You have no idea if they know anything about the assassination, but you’re guessing they probably left before you completed your task. In any event, you’ve still got the job of killing them three and you don’t know if you’re going to get the chance now. Lacking a better idea, you head to the meeting point and hope that they’re still there.
You finally get there just as it starts to get late in the day. No Felkan patrols in the area, but you still cautiously enter the woods. You aren’t completely out of luck as you see Murk pacing back and forth, looking around nervously.
“Murk, where are the others?” you say, causing him to jump and nearly point his armbow at you.
“Brother! You’re alive! Thank Dendrin!” he says with a bit of joy, though he look visibly upset.
“It wasn’t easy, but where are the others?”
“Talia went on ahead and assumed you and Dusk were dead. Bianca…she…(sniffle) didn’t make it.” He quickly wipes his eyes when he tells you.
“Oh.”
“I don’t understand, everything was going well and were already on our way to escaping, then all of a sudden there were Felkan soldiers everywhere! Bianca got shot in the back, by one of those infernal Felkan weapons! (sniffle) I know she didn’t see me as a potential mate, but I always hoped one day that…(sob)…sorry brother…I know there are more important things right now.”
“It’s understandable brother, but how long ago did Talia leave?”
“She left not long after we arrived here which was this morning. She’s probably already in Empire territory by now. I stayed just to make sure we hadn’t lost any more people. I had to hope. I’m glad to see you alive, but I hesitate to ask… Dusk isn’t with you. Did she fall as well?”
“Yes.”
“(Sigh) Another loss. Well as grim as this has been, I suppose we should get used to it in the coming months when we finally strike against the Empire properly. There are going to be a lot of our brothers and sisters that will probably fall in the cause of Dendrin.”
“Well you’re right and wrong about that Murk.” You say, approaching him.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re right that a lot of shadows will fall in the cause of Dendrin…you’re wrong about thinking that I’d really consider any of you traitors to be my siblings!” you say and quickly grab him towards you and stab him in the stomach. The look of shock overwhelms him.
“Wh…why broth…er…wh…” he sputters before you finish him off with a snap of his neck.
You look down at Murk’s dead body and you feel nothing for him. You remember the times you nearly killed him before, but hesitated. Perhaps this is a good sign that you’re finally getting all these lingering feelings out of your system. Well three out of four were taken out, still not good enough though and you doubt if you’ll get to Talia in time for her to make her report to Master Ebon or Brother Gray. Still you have to try, so you make your journey right away and leave the body of Murk behind.
You push your magic to the limit to speed your yourself up, you just hope Talia isn’t doing the same; it’s going to be hard enough to track her. You’re going to take a wild guess that she’ll probably use the same route you took to get to the Felkan border, at least you hope so.
Night falls and you’ve made good time by getting into Empire territory as quickly as you have, but you’re getting incredibly exhausted. Even if you do get to Talia, you aren’t even sure you’ll have the energy to take her. You continue to press on though.
“I will NOT be stopped by Dendrin’s petty favor of magic. My mind WILL overcome and I WILL use the gifts he gave me against him!” You mutter to yourself.
Night eventually passes into day again and you manage get just outside the town of Lenet which is the closest town to Gloom. You still haven’t seen Talia, and can only hope she hasn’t made it to Gloom yet. In the meantime you feel horrible at this point and on the verge of passing out. You decide to head over to a small river that you know nearby and hope that some water will perk you up or at least prevent you from falling unconscious again.
You retch and cough the whole time you drag yourself to the river. Finally you collapse nearly face first into the damned river. You look at your reflection which is just inches away from your face and you nearly see a stranger looking back.
“What the…” you say to yourself.
Your reflection doesn’t display the age that you know yourself to be, but rather that of an older you. You put your hands to your face and can feel the wrinkle lines. You hadn’t been noticing before, but you look at your hands and see how weathered they look. This overuse of shadow magic has taken its toll on your body. You may have even shortened your life span, you have no idea.
“Brother! What are you doing over there by the river? Are you sick?” you hear a familiar voice ask.
You turn around and see Talia. You must’ve somehow unknowingly passed her in your rush to reach her, since she is coming from the same direction you were. When she sees you, her surprise nearly matches that of Murk when you killed him.
“You’re…alive! But…what happened to you? Your face! Some of your hair is white! What manner of magic did this?” she asks out of concern and begins to approach you.
You look at Talia one last time as a fellow Eternal that once held the ideals of the Empire. There is so much you could say to her, but there really wouldn’t be any point. Better to just get this over before you get overcome with feeling again.
You forgot to reload your armbow, but fortunately you still have the flintlock that you took from the young royal. You hope it’s reliable, because you don’t have the energy to fight her.
Without another word, you pull out the flintlock and shoot it straight at Talia’s head. She falls instantly when she’s hit. You slowly stagger up and walk over to her and see that a good portion of the top left side of her head has been blown off. The deadness in her eyes is apparent, as are the brains leaking out.
Mission accomplished.
You stumble into the town of Lenet and make arrangements for a carriage to take you to the capital. From there you hope you can contact Mr. Mol. For now though you’re going to sleep the whole way there and hope you don’t get some annoying visit from Dendrin, because as of now you’ve finally freed yourself of the shadows.
As far as your concerned the only time you want to be in their presence again is to face them in battle as a proper enemy and you are looking forward to that in the near future.