Normal
0
21
false
false
false
EN-US
X-NONE
X-NONE
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
The sounds
of the streets of Port Nyanzaru woke him up. Again any pain he had felt before,
was now gone. Around him the buildings and streets of the port city were
forming up. The ground below him was shaking and pushed a building up. Velverin
managed to keep his balanced and looked around from his new high up position.
It didn’t take long to find what his guide wanted him to see.
It was near the great market, where they fought the criminal gladiator and his
wizard ally. Velverin had just blown the wizards head off. He wanted to look away; he didn’t want to see
how he failed to save an ally due to his arrogance. But an invisible force made
him watch. As casually as possible he walked up to the downed gladiator;
believing he would finish him off as easily as he had killed the mage. His
rapier tore a wound from the gladiator, but had missed a vital spot. Right at
that moment Velverin should have send some healing towards the critical wounded
Gaston but didn’t. In his arrogance he just walked away from the prone enemy.
In his mind it was clear that Drev’nae would use her paladin powers to heal
Gaston who would then finish it.
He had hoped the vision would play out differently, like the first one. It
didn’t happen. Velverin's other self was again seconds too late to save Gaston.
She
appeared next to him. This time she looked more like his twin sister. Maybe she
chose her age in relativity to the timeline of the events. “I see it in your
face. You believe you failed. But have you failed alone? Was this the moment
you failed or was it maybe earlier? Maybe you just weren’t experienced enough?”
Vel didn’t say anything. He silently watched as they finished off the gladiator
and made the scene look like a quarrel between Gaston and their enemy with a
tragic ending.
“By inexperienced I mean that you never worked as part of a team, none of you.
And there was the matter of your new powers. Still, is it truly your own fault that Warlock died or is
everyone to blame or anyone else? There are so many possibilities in these
situations; it is always hard to predict the outcome. Had the gladiator not
fought back or hadn’t his wizard friend intervened, it might have ended
differently. Would the outcome be any different, if you had healed him? The wnswer
is simple: We don’t know and we will never know.”
Inside of Velverin he felt his anger rising. How could she play it down? Before
he could raise his voice she continued. “It is tragic, all of it. You are right
to mourn your friend, but you should mourn all life that is lost. This brings
us to next step more defining moments.”
And with
these words the city around them sunk back into the ground, except one wall. On
this wall Velverin repeatedly saw himself speaking with Wakanga O’tamu trying
to find the child the gladiator wanted to help. He saw his first encounter with
Drev’nae’s uncle Elidyr as he was shouting at him for not taking Rhythm’s death
seriously. Also, there was the desperate attempt to save Drev’nae from the
Darklings.
In between
he heard his own sorry voice as he was saying to Drev’nae: “I don’t know how to
care!”
The visions
changed to the fight between Faelon and Drev’nae over the jug. Faelon rushing
into the hag’s hut. Him stepping into to the tent of Valarith to put in a good
word for Drev’nae. Velverin making his peace with Elidyr. Him writing a letter to Faelon. And finally, they
showed him how the mess with the nightwalker started. More and more walls rose
from the ground. Every wall showed him one of those scenes. And in the middle
of it all a well-known figure appeared. “Faelon? What are you doing here? How is it even possible”
Velverin was confused. But it was not the wizard himself, just some kind of
projection and it began to rehearse a small part out of his letter to Vel.
“For what
it’s worth, you didn’t fail Gaston, Rhythm, or even Borgen, so don’t be so
cruel to yourself. They were people who chose lives of danger and excitement,
knowing what risks it posed and each of them would hate you to think you were
responsible.”
“You’re
friend wrote some wise words. Yet, they only sum up only potion of your
problem. Actually, I think you use failure just as an excuse.” His twin sister
pulled certain scenes closer. All had in common that they showed how Velverin
cared for others and how he was happy.
“Proclaiming you don’t know how to care is probably your greatest lie. You are
afraid. Your siblings don’t seem to care that you are still alive. There is no
sign that they even know. Yet, you are still afraid of them. That they come out
again and destroy or kill what you care for. At the same time you are afraid of
becoming an evil person who cares for nothing in the world except for who he
kills next. So it is easier to lie to oneself, claiming to not care while
caring for others. Thinking it saves you from your siblings and from yourself.
Your actions, however, speak louder, if you look closely. Burying a grudge for
the sake of friendship is pretty big.
So, if you are true to yourself; you didn’t take the pact from the Tiefling because
you wanted to help him. You took it because you wanted a way out. You are so
afraid of the bonds that were forming, are still forming, that you thought it
was a good idea. Then the paladin showed up and suddenly you are not sure about
it anymore. I even sense a little regret inside of you. Is it enough regret
that you’ll change your mind about dying?
You have to make your final decision. You can run away from everything. It mean’s
death though. Entering the Soulmonger, maybe serving it through the gem pulsing in your chest. All the work you did
to save your soul undone in a single moment. Or you stop running! This doesn’t
mean you win. It means just the first step towards living a life, with all his
ups and downs, accepting yourself as you are. The option is yours.”
Two walls
remained after she snapped her fingers. One showing all the bad memories the
other the good things, the fun moments, his friends. Another snap and in each
wall a door appeared. “This is where we part. I think by now you should know
who I am and most likely this was not the guidance you hoped for. But it is
what you got. Everything else is in your own hands.” She smiled as her form
changed from a female Drow into a fading light. Leaving Velverin alone with the
walls and the doors.
