To think we had come this far...
Suffering and strife, pain and sorrow, lust and pleasure. These are the fractured remnants of memories now long lost to the sands of time. A deal cut, and a contract signed. “You do realize you will recognize no one, not family, not loved ones, not even your own child?” The young maiden spoke softly, as if pleading for the elder elf to change his course. “Could you really do this to yourself? For the sake of what? A bargain with a dragon..” Her ebony locks draped over her face as a single tear slipped from the previously stoic facade. She reached out to him, a gentle hand coming to rest on his shoulder.
The male elf gazed through the window, watching the trees sway in the soft spring wind. His children would have come into adulthood this past winter.. His wife bringing in fresh produce from the nearest market. These glimpses of what could have been danced through his vision, blurring as the tears welled. The embersilk cloth resting on the desk in front of him, his hair resting loose across his back. “My friends do not need my protection anymore, they will move on and grow old. My mission is complete and no one need know of this. Kal’thinas Dawnstriker will be no more.. I have served my purpose.” The muscles in his cheek flexed, almost mimicking a smile as he held onto a shred of a memory, a gift given to an old friend, and the scrap of cloth he had kept as a memento of that moment. The thoughts of his friends both living and not swam through his head. They would not understand what he had done, or why.
A dying wish from a dying elf on the field of battle.. answered by a young drake striving for power. Power that should never have been offered. “I will grant you life, young elf.. But I cannot guarantee how long my magic will stay, as I am still young amongst my kin.” The young Kal’thinas, still only a ranger at this age and barely into adulthood cried, Troll axe sticking from his abdomen, blood dribbling from his lips. His hand gripped tightly to another elf lying not too far away.. His father lay still, unbreathing, clad in the fullest glory of the armory of House Dawnstriker, Three trollish arrows stuck out of his throat, the slowly congealing blood sticking to the grass. The red drake took an elven form, a young maiden with ebony hair, kneeling next to the young ranger, a hand hovering over his chest. “You will live beyond this day, protect those you hold dear with the fury and might of a dragon..” Words softly spoken but powerful as green magic encircled the elf, grass and flowers grew and the wounds of this fallen elf were healed. The axe and his fallen fathers armor lay near him, shined and cleaned as if fresh from the smithy. As he looked around he could see the freshly made burial mound of his father, a single peacebloom growing at the peak, and as the sun rose above the forest, a slight glimpse of a drake flying north was spotted, and forever be burned into his mind...
Now the magic ran thin, Kal’thinas could feel the age catching up to him as the young maiden cursed herself for not being able to help him further all those centuries ago. There was only one option left for him, he realized as he gazed out at that peacebloom in the garden. But whether he accepted that would remain to be seen..
(I do apologize to all of those who follow my blog, I have been dealing with many delays in creativity due to work as well as several IC and OOC fallouts I have had over the past few months. I’ve been keeping up with my writing as I can and will begin to post on a more frequent basis now that I have the time to clear my thoughts as I put my pen to paper. I do accept any form of criticism so please do not hesitate to offer any form of such. Thank you for bearing with me my friends, Here is to more adventures on Kalth’s journey!)
