Role

Chapter 24

When I was younger, I had never dared to dream that I would train my voice.
I had a natural talent, of course, a softness, a certain lilt, that others
found pleasant. I had hoped to be a mother, to raise a family, a simple
life, but a good one, and one which I would have been happily content in.

His name was Mattias, Mattias Alves. He barely lived past his first
century, a pittance in the time alloted our kind by the gods. I had the
joy of knowing him for almost half of that, we grew together, and I had
hoped to live our life together.

He had a good heart, a kind heart, and a softness about him that was all
for me. He died what would have been called a hero, his life for another;
if he had only succeeded in even that I would have had some slight succor
from my pain. Instead he died in vain, and I was not able to die with
him.

One of the dark-knights, in the company of a deathwalker, in the company
of a shapeshifter of the Nexus, assailed the city that night. The city
was Darsylon, once my home though no longer, and they slew all they could
find. The guards know the price the pay for the safety of the town, that
perhaps the citizens might live. The children, though, they know nothing
of this, of the fire that can be brought to life that burns tender flesh
so fiercely.

Mattias saw them, had seen them fighting in the streets. We both knew that
there was nothing to be done, neither one of us could stand against those
three. There was nothing to be done, but wait for the guards to come and
drive them away. The fires blazed as the knight chanted unholy words,
searing the flesh of all near him. Screams of the dead and dying filled the
air.


My lovely Mattias had the softest hands, a healer's hands. He intended to
study those arts, dedicate himself the to gods of the light. Instead, that
day, he charged from where we hid, trying to snatch a little child, a young
girl, from the fray, before the flames caught her up.

Instead, they noticed him, caught him between them. The child was impaled,
lifted into the air, and died sliding down the knight's spear. My Mattias,
however, they caught.

Please, I cannot go through this again.