Eternal
Theo and Yvette are brought before you restrained by two Blades each. They are heavily beaten, but still display a look of defiance on their faces. The rest of the shadows look on in anticipation of what you intend to do. Indeed some may still be in the dark about what exactly is going on.
“Here they are Shadow Master, brought to you alive as you wanted.”
You approach the both of them, starting with Theo first.
“What’s wrong? Have you grown so drunk with power that you’ve become too lazy to do your own dirty work anymore?” Theo asks.
“What’s wrong? Have you grown so cowardly that you had to conspire with other shadows rather than attempt to sink the blade in my back yourself? If I was as lazy as you claimed, I wouldn’t have been keeping track of your increasing insubordinate activity and your attempts of poisoning the minds of other shadows. Doesn’t matter though, you were useful in that regard by saving me the trouble of determining for certain those that can’t adapt with the times.”
“Adapt with the times? Is that what all this is called? I call it turning away from Dendrin’s will! How can any of you follow this…mad man masquerading as a Shadow Master? We’ve become nothing more than assassins for hire and selling out our very beliefs for petty profit and corrupt favors!”
“And what would YOU have us do? Continue to remain isolated in our dreary temple going through the motions of prayers all day and night until we die? The old shadows did that and look what happened, they…WE were practically enslaved by the Empire! WE were their lackies and servants for centuries! And now that we’ve finally cast off those shackles you want us to be put in a position again where that could happen again? I say never again.”
Theo naturally isn’t convinced, but his fate was sealed a long time ago anyway. Yvette decides it’s her turn to speak out.
“You keep saying WE as if you’re actually as shadow, but you aren’t! You’re a corruption! An abomination! You’re something the Empire grew in a lab! ALL of your kind are! You treat this order like your own private caste system, with all the Eternals at the top and us pure humans at the bottom! The Empire may be dead, but from where I’m standing its legacy still lives on to continue its tyranny over us in the form of YOU!”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Any human or Eternal can perform the same duties, I show no preferences. You and Theo were on my council. Trusted and well respected advisors that I thought were loyal. Dravin is on the council and he is human as well.” You say
“Yeah, because he’s Cyrus’ bitch…” Theo mutters. This causes Cyrus to lunge at Theo so quickly that you barely manage to keep him from killing him right there.
“Let us kill this traitor and be done with it!” Cyrus shouts.
“Yeah, let’s get on with it, why draw it out, we all know what’s going to happen.” Theo replies.
“Yes we do, but that’s not nearly as important as the journey itself.” You say.
“What journey?”
“This one. The one we’re on right now. Let me ask you this so that I may show a glaring flaw in your reasoning. IF I was as bad as you claim and I’ve turned the shadows from the will of Dendrin why was I not stopped? Why was I even picked to be Shadow Master? Why weren’t you able to succeed with your plan to kill me?”
Theo is silent. He has no good answer, though you get the impression he wants to give you his own thoughts on the matter, but you interrupt before he can.
“I’ll tell you why. Because what I’m doing here, the direction I’ve taken the shadow IS Dendrin’s will! He WANTED someone like me in charge, because face it; I’ve been a major reason why this fucking order even continues to exist! I have on more than one occasion made the hard decisions that have ensured the survival of the shadows! I fought against the very Empire, which as your wife says created me in a lab somewhere. My loyalty to the shadows and to Dendrin has ALWAYS been there if it hadn’t he wouldn’t have chosen me. You dare stand there and judge me after I’ve either directly or indirectly saved everyone here at one time or another? Nobody can judge me except Dendrin, I think you forgot that lesson.”
At last you’ve pushed the buttons that cause Theo to utter the words in front of everyone that you were waiting for.
“Then maybe Dendrin doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing! And maybe I’ve wasted my life following a so-called deity that doesn’t give a shit whether we live or die! Fuck you and fuck Dendrin!” Theo snarls and you give a hidden smile while the rest of the shadows either jeer at him in disgust or show a less verbal way of disapproval such as shaking their heads.
“Well there you have it brothers and sisters, an unrepentant verbal admission of disloyalty, I think we can all see who has really turned from Dendrin’s will here.” You say.
You say nothing else and focus on Theo’s mind as he stares at you with burning hatred. You begin to perform the same spell that Master Ebon did on Brother Shade when he tried to kill him. Theo dies in very much the same way, with his ears and nose bleeding first, followed by gasps. He never screams though. Eventually his brain explodes inside his head and he slumps down dead.
You then turn to Yvette, she looks thoroughly beaten at this point and doesn’t even look at you. You were going to ask if she wishes to say anything else, but it would be pointless and besides you’ve gotten what you wanted out of this. You focus on her mind and within a few agonizing moments it’s all over for her.
Afterwards you give a small speech about how this is a reminder of how traitors like Theo will always be brought to justice because Dendrin sees all and knows all. You also reassure them all of how good things have been going for the shadows since you’ve engaged in the current activities you’ve been doing and how loyalty to Dendrin will ultimately be rewarded in the afterlife.
As you go back to your own duties, you can’t help but think about Theo’s few last words and how you briefly wanted to agree with him, if only to see the amusing confusion on the shadows faces.
“Here they are Shadow Master, brought to you alive as you wanted.”
You approach the both of them, starting with Theo first.
“What’s wrong? Have you grown so drunk with power that you’ve become too lazy to do your own dirty work anymore?” Theo asks.
“What’s wrong? Have you grown so cowardly that you had to conspire with other shadows rather than attempt to sink the blade in my back yourself? If I was as lazy as you claimed, I wouldn’t have been keeping track of your increasing insubordinate activity and your attempts of poisoning the minds of other shadows. Doesn’t matter though, you were useful in that regard by saving me the trouble of determining for certain those that can’t adapt with the times.”
“Adapt with the times? Is that what all this is called? I call it turning away from Dendrin’s will! How can any of you follow this…mad man masquerading as a Shadow Master? We’ve become nothing more than assassins for hire and selling out our very beliefs for petty profit and corrupt favors!”
“And what would YOU have us do? Continue to remain isolated in our dreary temple going through the motions of prayers all day and night until we die? The old shadows did that and look what happened, they…WE were practically enslaved by the Empire! WE were their lackies and servants for centuries! And now that we’ve finally cast off those shackles you want us to be put in a position again where that could happen again? I say never again.”
Theo naturally isn’t convinced, but his fate was sealed a long time ago anyway. Yvette decides it’s her turn to speak out.
“You keep saying WE as if you’re actually as shadow, but you aren’t! You’re a corruption! An abomination! You’re something the Empire grew in a lab! ALL of your kind are! You treat this order like your own private caste system, with all the Eternals at the top and us pure humans at the bottom! The Empire may be dead, but from where I’m standing its legacy still lives on to continue its tyranny over us in the form of YOU!”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. Any human or Eternal can perform the same duties, I show no preferences. You and Theo were on my council. Trusted and well respected advisors that I thought were loyal. Dravin is on the council and he is human as well.” You say
“Yeah, because he’s Cyrus’ bitch…” Theo mutters. This causes Cyrus to lunge at Theo so quickly that you barely manage to keep him from killing him right there.
“Let us kill this traitor and be done with it!” Cyrus shouts.
“Yeah, let’s get on with it, why draw it out, we all know what’s going to happen.” Theo replies.
“Yes we do, but that’s not nearly as important as the journey itself.” You say.
“What journey?”
“This one. The one we’re on right now. Let me ask you this so that I may show a glaring flaw in your reasoning. IF I was as bad as you claim and I’ve turned the shadows from the will of Dendrin why was I not stopped? Why was I even picked to be Shadow Master? Why weren’t you able to succeed with your plan to kill me?”
Theo is silent. He has no good answer, though you get the impression he wants to give you his own thoughts on the matter, but you interrupt before he can.
“I’ll tell you why. Because what I’m doing here, the direction I’ve taken the shadow IS Dendrin’s will! He WANTED someone like me in charge, because face it; I’ve been a major reason why this fucking order even continues to exist! I have on more than one occasion made the hard decisions that have ensured the survival of the shadows! I fought against the very Empire, which as your wife says created me in a lab somewhere. My loyalty to the shadows and to Dendrin has ALWAYS been there if it hadn’t he wouldn’t have chosen me. You dare stand there and judge me after I’ve either directly or indirectly saved everyone here at one time or another? Nobody can judge me except Dendrin, I think you forgot that lesson.”
At last you’ve pushed the buttons that cause Theo to utter the words in front of everyone that you were waiting for.
“Then maybe Dendrin doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing! And maybe I’ve wasted my life following a so-called deity that doesn’t give a shit whether we live or die! Fuck you and fuck Dendrin!” Theo snarls and you give a hidden smile while the rest of the shadows either jeer at him in disgust or show a less verbal way of disapproval such as shaking their heads.
“Well there you have it brothers and sisters, an unrepentant verbal admission of disloyalty, I think we can all see who has really turned from Dendrin’s will here.” You say.
You say nothing else and focus on Theo’s mind as he stares at you with burning hatred. You begin to perform the same spell that Master Ebon did on Brother Shade when he tried to kill him. Theo dies in very much the same way, with his ears and nose bleeding first, followed by gasps. He never screams though. Eventually his brain explodes inside his head and he slumps down dead.
You then turn to Yvette, she looks thoroughly beaten at this point and doesn’t even look at you. You were going to ask if she wishes to say anything else, but it would be pointless and besides you’ve gotten what you wanted out of this. You focus on her mind and within a few agonizing moments it’s all over for her.
Afterwards you give a small speech about how this is a reminder of how traitors like Theo will always be brought to justice because Dendrin sees all and knows all. You also reassure them all of how good things have been going for the shadows since you’ve engaged in the current activities you’ve been doing and how loyalty to Dendrin will ultimately be rewarded in the afterlife.
As you go back to your own duties, you can’t help but think about Theo’s few last words and how you briefly wanted to agree with him, if only to see the amusing confusion on the shadows faces.