AC Finals: BlackAndBlueEyes

[Silence Sei]

Apologies for getting this up late. You have two weeks from 12:01 PM CST to complete this thread. The 24 hour rule has been waived for the finals. Will Madison surpass her mistress? Good Luck!

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I woke up three days later, ready to murder everyone.

I'm speaking in hyperbole, of course. About the waking up bit, at least.

Have you ever gone through resurrection? It's not really anything like waking up... Sure, for a period of time you're floating in the aether between worlds. You're aware that you're dead, but you're also conscious of the fact that you have not pierced the veil and entered the afterlife. You are a shapeless entity, a concept, a candle's flame flickering at the end of the wick. You are aware and thinking and feeling; but at the same time, you are unable to do anything.

Three days is a long time to wait in a state like that.

I spent that entire period of time hearing that fucking bitch's maniacal cackling all around me. Podë. Even in the space between life and death, she tormented me. Always just out of reach, always just out of range. I knew that this was one of her favorite places to hide... But try as I might, I was unable to find her.

What would I have done to her if I did?

Well... Three days is not long enough to dream up all the satisfying possibilities.

That wait while my corporeal form slowly recovered from being fried by the cleric Caitlin's lightning rune was excruciating enough; but once everything was working again... That first screaming breath hurt like hell. I felt like I had undergone the effects of another severe shock spell. At once, all of my senses returned and my briarheart beat loudly within my chest. Tainted blood once more began flowing through my veins, my muscles and limbs felt as if they were being jabbed with thousands of little needles as they regained their function. I gasped for air deeply and often, my body looking to replenish its oxygen supply after being inactive for days.

It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, it hurt to see, it hurt to think, it hurt to simply be.

And still, a single line of thought was able to push through all that painful sensation--the betrayal of my employer, the Red Witch herself, Podë. How she used Stefan and Caitlin as the instruments of my untimely yet temporary demise. How she would not give me my due after my service to her, opting instead to reach out to others and make those unwilling, unworthy souls part of her legacy.

How she abandoned me after I threw myself into her waiting arms, wishing to walk into dark oblivion when I could have saved her.

That's what sickened me the most.

I could forgive her for everything else. If she came up to me with a devilish smile and said, “My little monster, my work here is not done. Come, let us show the world the true meaning of fear together...” If only she said that to me, I would walk with her. I would forget all about the sell-sword and the cleric, I would forget all about my task of murdering her other chosen ones, I would forgive everything that happened ever since I infiltrated the High Bard Council's little gang of miscreants and mercenaries and show her that I was worthy to walk beside her.

But that is not how things played out.

A lot of time has passed since I woke up from my death-dream, and I have yet to move. The ache in my muscles from the lack of blood and oxygen has passed, but the piercing sensation in that corrupted little organ I call a heart remains.

The poisonous hatred that coursed through my veins was white-hot. It warmed me as I continued to lay against the dew-soaked grass and mud of The Red Forest. I was shaking, my fists clenched tightly as I replayed the last few seconds of the night I died. The splash of acid on Stefan's face. The pungent odor of melting flesh wafting up my nostrils. How my screams mixed with that bastard sell-sword’s own in the Raiaeran night when Caitlin activated her lightning rune.

How the last thing I heard before everything faded to black was the echoing cackle that belonged to she who I had dedicated my life to serve. She who I had accepted horrible, reality-warping power from.

She who betrayed me.

Podë.

I am going to kill her. I am going to kill her, and everyone who crosses my path until I have my revenge.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I eventually rose into a cross-legged seated position. The morning dew had begun soaking through my pants, serving only to annoy me even further. The tingling sensation that gripped my body was slowly fading away as my body finished rebooting itself, leaving behind only the dull throbbing in my chest and head as my anger simmered.

A heavy weight on my hips made itself known as I shifted around. Looking down, I spotted all of my effects--The Last Resort was fully loaded and tucked snugly into its leather holster, my twin mythril daggers were sheathed and easily accessible at the small of my back. The front of my belt still had all of the pouches stuffed with their contents, including small emergency medical kits and my spell-punching knuckledusters.

A small ripple of relief warmed me. Stefan and Caitlin had not absconded with my gear after they killed me. But, I suppose that might be because they were busy making sure he didn't die from having his face melted off by my surprise acid splash.

For a second, I wondered if he actually survived. From past experiences, the answer was likely a hard “no”; but with the faith-born magic of the holy knight, there was a slim chance he could've made it to stumble his way out of the forest without further harm.

But then, of course, they had the horrors that populated this forest waiting for them just out of sight...

I put the duo out of mind. There was no chance they would survive in their current states. She only had so much power, he was a liability at this point, and they were surrounded by so much danger...

Gingerly, my limbs getting used to the notion of working in unison with my brain once more, I made it onto my knees. My eyes had finished adjusting to the light. I shook the remaining fog from my mind, and everything was crystal clear once more. Looking around, I got my bearings. Just by the color scheme alone, it was obvious that I was still within the depths of Lindequalmë. Everything was crimson-hued, from the leaves in the ashen-barked trees to the shin-high grass and weeds that covered the ground. The midday sun's rays poured through the the bough-woven canopy, providing warmth on my pale skin and more than enough illumination to get my bearings. It was deathly silent all around me, save for my own breathing and a light breeze weaving through the dense forest.

It appeared to me that I was in the middle of some grove. I wished that I had more information than that to go off of. Standing up, I began scanning the area for any familiar signs. After about a second of that, I kicked myself for being so stupid--I mean, how in the seventeen hells was I supposed to know where exactly I was other than “deep within the cursed wood”? One group of fucking trees looks exactly like another.

Instead, I began scanning my surroundings for any signs of the conflict from three nights ago. The two unlucky adventurers had done an adequate enough job of disposing the severed remains of the shamblers that attacked us in the night, as well as the Chosen One Tomas. I looked for any signs of my conflict with them. I looked for bits of weeds and grass that burned away from the drops of acid I spread around the campsite. I looked around for signs of the campfire.

Nothing. No ashes, no burned edges of plant matter, no dried hunks of flesh and blood.

Had my body been moved after I died? If so, who moved it? Why did they move it?

I was being left with more questions than answers, and it didn't help to calm me down any. My eyes flickering around the grove in search of something, anything, I felt a weight form in my gut. I was alone, I was seething with anger, and loathe to admit it, I was scared.

Was I too late? Had Podë already been bested by any of the other adventurers that signed up to cleanse the forest of her blight?

I closed my eyes and reached out into the aether, hoping to find any trace of the Red Witch. Much to my relief (or was that disappointment?), I could feel a faint, tainted magic tickling the back of my mind. She was alive, but she was severely weakened.

Good, I thought to myself venomously as a scowl etched itself across my face.

The sound of grass rustling in the grove behind me sent an immediate chill down my spine. In one smooth motion, I ripped my flintlock revolver from its holster and spun around to take aim. The iron sight found itself pointing at the center of mass of a womanly figure, who had a few too many curves to be considered attractive by most men. She wore a faded blue tunic top and pair of earthen-hued pants. Her face was round and lightly freckled, with frightened blue eyes teared up above a button nose. Her blond hair was curly and pulled back in a ponytail.

I hesitated briefly before I lowered my weapon. My voice, when it came out, sounded incredibly foreign and distant. “Nell? Is that you?”

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

She had a bewildered look in her eyes. It flickered between confused, scared, elated, and back again. Her lips quivered as she tried to find her words. “M... Madison?” Her voice was hollow and distant, as if she had taken an extended sight-seeing tour through hell.

How did she get here? She was holed up in our apartment in Tirel when I sent word that I was traveling to Raiaera to “assist” the High Bard Council. Was this more torture from the one I pledged my life to? Was this an illusion from she who cast me aside? Was she nothing more than a vision? A hallucination? One of Podë's tricks?

Nell took one slow step towards me, and I whipped the gun back up into the air and rested my finger on the curve of the trigger. Her eyes widened as she stared at the barrel of the flintlock revolver before they clenched shut. She threw her hands up in front of her face and screamed as she turned away, back towards the unknown of the tainted forest beyond.

“No! Please! Don't shoot!”

With those four words, any notion of the girl's curious appearance being a trick played against me flew out the door. Her frightened plea hit me like a kick in the gut. What the fuck was I doing? I was aiming a tool for killing people at one of those I cared about the most. Sweet, lovable Nell. Intelligent, endearing Nell. The girl who dropped everything she had in Corone to move to Salvar in order to continue her training and work with me.

We spent so much time together in Tirel. I shared untold tomes of knowledge with her. I watched as she developed into a capable alchemist. I helped mold her ability to work scrap into useful artifacts and devices. I kept her employed and happy, that way she wouldn't abandon me like I had feared she would ever since we set foot off the boat. She was my student, my confidant, my best friend through every high and low I had endured these past few years.

And here I was, ready to blow her brains out with a squeeze of the trigger.

The firearm slid out of my hands and tumbled onto the thick grass. My voice was as soft as the midday breeze. “Nell,” I whispered. I moved towards her, slow at first, but quickly broke out in a jog as I crossed the grove. The poor thing was still cowering, panicked and trembling as she was hunched over in the crimson weeds. I wrapped my briar-knit arms around her tightly, trying desperately to get her to stop shaking.

“Nell”, I whispered into her ear. “I'm so sorry, sweetie. Please, don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you. I'd never want to hurt you.”

A single tear filled the corner of my eye as my mind flashed to what might have been. I tried my hardest to block that horrible, bloody vision as I pulled her closer. She was trembling. She was afraid. She was very much like myself. Trapped in this wretched place, surrounded by unseen horrors and death always a moment away. Scared. Alone.

Nell turned into me, wrapped her arms around me tightly, and buried her face into my shoulder. Her body shook with sobs as her tears soaked into the exposed flesh of my neck. I held her close and whispered more calming reassurances into her ear. We sat like that in the tall crimson grass of the cursed grove for what seemed like hours.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Eventually, my assistant calmed down. She looked up at me as she let go, her eyes bloodshot from all the crying. “Madison... Where... Where am I?”

I thought about telling her everything. I thought about telling her all those secrets I kept from her--all those things that kept her safe from the trouble I bring upon myself. I thought about telling her my dealings with the Forgotten One Podë, the powers that she gifted me, the vile tasks I completed in her name, and the blood of thousands that forever stained my soul.

...No, I can't do that. Not to her. The poor girl doesn't even know about what I did in Eiskalt. She would never forgive me for such a revelation. She would cast me aside like my parents did... She would abandon me, like...

I took a deep breath. “You're in Lindequalmë.”

For the first time since she arrived, Nell looked around at her surroundings, her bright baby blues absorbing the sights of all the red. “The Red Forest,” she whispered. “But... Why? How? How did I get here? Madison--”

“I don't know, dear,” I said, quickly cutting her off before she could work herself into another panic. But, I had to know.. “Tell me--what's the last thing you remember? Try and think back... As soon as you can to right now.”

Nell took several breaths as she slipped into her thoughts. Her lips silently mouthed words as she searched her recent memories for what exactly led up to her being here. “I remember... I remember working in the apartment. I was going over some formulas for curative potions that you sent me, checking to make sure I had enough ingredients to create the next day's mixtures. I got up to get a drink of water. I remember it tasting... I don't know, different.”

The young woman's eyes locked onto mine. They still held tight onto the fear that they had shown when I first saw her in the grove. “I think I collapsed or something after that, because I don't remember anything between that and the red...”

That last word plucked a string in the back of my mind. “Red, you say?”

She nodded softly. “Yes. There was this haze of deep red, darker than the leaves and grass here.” She motioned weakly to our surroundings. “It was this endless fog. I walked around for what felt like hours. I called out to anyone, hoping that someone would hear me. And then, I remember this... this laughter.”

The string was plucked again, this time harder than before. I felt a pang of dread, but said nothing. “It was horrible, Madison. It was like nails on a chalkboard. It was the laughter of a psychopath. It frightened me. I wanted to run. I wanted to cry. I wanted to just wake up and get away from it all. And that's when she showed up...”

Podë, I thought to myself, already knowing where Nell's visions were going.

“She was beautiful, Madison. She was wearing this gorgeous red dress, and had flowing, wavy red hair... But her smile... Oh gods, her smile...” Nell began shaking again, more tears lining her eyes, ready to pour down her round cheeks.

I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “You don't have to tell me any more, dear.”

She pressed on anyway, refusing to quit even when the memories were less than pleasant. “It was the scariest grin I've ever seen. It was that kind of smile that could kill you in seconds. The kind of smile that would rip your heart out and crush your soul.”

I know that smile all to well, I thought darkly.

“But then... The woman faded from view and I woke up here--here in this forest, all alone...” Nell wiped a tear from her eyes, drying her finger on the fabric of her pants.

So, that was it. Podë abducted Nell from Salvar and transported here, to the Red Forest. Just like she had done with my parents, all those months ago. Just like she had done to me, the night I swore my life to her in exchange for a taste of her power.

But... Why? Why had that witch done it? Why did I have this horrible feeling in my stomach, as if something wasn't right here? Why did I feel that this was only going to be the beginning of my troubles?

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

We sat together in silence for the next few moments. All around us, there was no noise. It was this vast emptiness; the forest itself was dying with its sorcerous master. The trees' dead gray bark appeared darker than I remember seeing last, while the leaves on the branches were likewise becoming a deeper shade of crimson. The breeze that I felt across my skin when I was pulled into the world of the living once more had long since gone.

I rose to my feet. I had to get Nell--us--away from this place. My vendetta against an almost-god could wait; all that mattered right now was the safety of my friend.

“Come on,” I said as I extended a briar-knit hand to her. “Let's get out of here.” Nell hesitated for just a brief moment before taking my hand, possibly worried that I was going to strike her as easily as I aimed a gun at her head. She pulled herself up to her feet with little effort, and started brushing wet blades of blood-colored grass off her blue tunic.

“Do you know where we are?”

“Red Forest,” I responded flatly.

“No,” she countered. “I meant where exactly? Like, how deep into the forest?”

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, no. I had a map with several established footpaths on it, but there was an incident where I blacked out--” There was no way in hell that I was going to tell the poor thing that I died-- “and woke to find myself here in this grove too.”

Nell pursed her lips into a frown, having hoped against all hope to get a better answer than that. She took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, running her hands through her hair. The girl was slowly becoming to the little creature I was so familiar with. “Then what do we do?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I really wish I had an answer to that question. My gaze drifted upwards towards the midday sun as its rays pressed through the tangle of branches overhead. “Not much we can do this moment, I'm afraid.” I put my hands up to my face, shielding my eyes from errant rays as I searched for that bright burning star in the sky. “If I can just pinpoint where the sun is, and then track its movement over the next few hours, we can at least get some semblance of what direction we should be heading in.”

My assistant looked up as well, searching in vain for our afternoon guide. “What direction's that?”

“South.”

She thought for several seconds before speaking again. “What if we're on the northern edge of the forest?”

“That's doubtful,” I said.

“No, seriously--what if?” She looked at me, anxiety slowly building behind her baby blues. “I don't want to be here, Madison--”

I waved a hand to silence her. “You're going to be alright traveling with me, sweetie. Trust me. I know more than you think about this place. I'll see us through this, okay?”

Nell looked down at the ground and kicked at a stick that had broken off one of the boughs overhead long ago. It tumbled awkwardly for several inches before settling down. “Okay,” she softly replied.

“Good. Now, we'll be heading due south, since it was that edge of the forest where the elves established the base camp I was assigned to before they gave the orders to strike.” The two of us began walking towards the middle of the clearing where I woke up what felt like forever ago. “It's very likely that it'll take us a few days to reach the forest's edge; but we'll get there. We're going to make it, Nell. I promise.”

I bent over to retrieve The Last Resort. Amazingly, the stupid thing hadn't gone off when it hit the dirt. The flintlock mechanism had been known to trigger when suddenly jolted. I suspected that it needed replacement. It would be a quick fix once I get back to my workshop within the Seventh Sanctum.

Sliding the gun into the leather holster on my belt, I stood back up. “I suppose all there is to do now is--”

I turned around, and that's when I saw her. She had pale skin that betrayed the thick, spidery purple veins that traveled up her arms and neck and curved up towards her piercing green eyes. She wore a sleeved gown that was as red as blood. A piece of the chest was cut out, revealing her cleavage, and a tight red bodice was strapped around her waist that accentuated the curves of her hips. A head of ginger hair spilled out in waves, going down to the small of her back. Her smile was vicious, her brilliant white teeth bared.

The Forgotten One Podë.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. My assistant Nell, suddenly showing up in the middle of a very dangerous place far from home? I should've known right from the start. She was a diversion; a vision, a trap set by Podë to lower my guard while she waited for the perfect moment to strike. In her weakened state, she had resorted to nothing more than parlor tricks—and I fell for them.

That she used such simple illusory magic against me--me--was the final insult I would let her make.

The witch's lips parted, her jaw moving as sounds escaped her throat. “Mad--”

She did not finish saying my name before I suddenly appeared right in front of her, a tightly-balled tangle of green vines headed right for her vein-rippled face. My fist connected with her jaw with a sickening crack!, and she was practically lifted off her feet as she was sent sprawling. Podë hit the weed-choked ground like a tossed doll, a pained gasp rattling out of her throat as she tumbled side over side.

My footsteps were soft and deliberate as I drew closer to my former employer. I jabbed a sharp briar-knit finger at her as she looked up at me, a look of anger and confusion in her eyes and a rivulet of blood pouring down her chin from her busted lip.

“I should've known from the start that this was all too good to be true,” I growled. “All of this—everything you've done for me, everything you've given me, and everything I've done for you in return; all of it lies!”

Podë pushed herself up on shaky hands. “Madis--”

I silenced her with a swift kick that caught her across the face that definitely sounded like it broke something. Her thin body snapped back from the force of the blow, and she collapsed to the ground again.

It was clear that everything that happened within the Red Forest had left the false god in a very weakened state. Between splitting her remaining power among the rest of the “chosen”, the massive resources it must've taken to resurrect the shamblers that ambushed me three nights ago, and defend herself against all of the others in a last-ditch effort to see another moonrise... The Forgotten One was at the end of her rope. She was finally ready to die.

I just always figured it would've been with a bang, not with a whimper.

Kneeling down beside the sorceress, I almost felt pity for her. Here she was, this being of legend; this plague that had cursed the Raiaerans and their most beautiful thing for thousands of years. Here she was, this all-powerful sorceress; bleeding and broken before me. I flipped her over onto her back and sat down on her stomach, pinning her to the crimson blanket between my legs.

A briar-knit hand caressed the side of her already-bruising face. She looked at me pleadingly with bright green emeralds. The witch was searching for something--forgiveness? Mercy?

She would find neither from me. Not now, not ever. Not anymore.

I gripped a fistful of her flowing red hair and picked her head off the ground. Her lips quivering, she managed to squeak out “Madis--” before another punch found home, smearing her thin nose across her face.

“Stop--”

Another sickening crack echoed off the trees that circled the grove as I smashed her with another punch.

“Stop--!”

Another punch, this one closing her left eye.

“Please!”

“No,” I said, my infinite fury burning in the back of my throat. “There's no stopping. There's no going back now.”

I shattered her teeth with another blow. The stupid bitch's head bounced off the dirt as I let go of her. She coughed up blood and bits of broken teeth, the pooling liquid in the back of her throat slowly choking her. Podë opened her eyes the best she could, making an incredible effort to focus on her impending death. Her lips were moving--she was trying to say something, but nothing came out of her mouth but more blood and coughing fits.

Grabbing tightly onto the hilt, I slowly unsheathed one of my mythril daggers. The white metal glinted in the bright light of an errant ray of sunlight as I raised it overhead. The witch's one working eye glanced frantically between the sharpened blade and my blank, emotionless face.

“Had I known it would've come to this, I would never had agreed to let you in my life. I would've told you to shove your honeyed words and false promises up your ass and left you.” I held the woman's frightened gaze as she squirmed under the weight of me on her chest. She tried to choke out a few more pleading words, but failed to do anything but spit dark blood all down her thin, porcelain cheeks.

I brought down the dagger inch by inch, savoring the moment. All of my problems these past ten days, all of the feelings of betrayal and hatred... One quick maneuver, and I would be able to let them all go in a rush of blood. I pressed the enchanted edge against her throat just hard enough to let her know that it was there without cutting the skin. Reaching out with a hand, I pressed the back of her head against the dew-stained grass to get the best shot at her thin, inviting throat.

I drew close enough to whisper a final few words into Podë's ear.

“I hate you for what you've done to me. May the fires of hell consume your blackened soul for all eternity.”

I pushed the mythril edge deep into her skin. Metal cut through flesh like butter as I quickly dragged it across her neck.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Blood began to pour from her throat as I opened it. Podë struggled in vain underneath me, her mouth agape and green eyes like saucers as pain electric coursed through her body. The sticky crimson liquid squirted upwards as I cut through her jugular vein, splashing me on the thigh as a river of the stuff continued to run thick onto the forest floor.

Watching the life pouring out from her was cathartic. I sat there, simply watching as she continued to struggle futilely as her remaining seconds continued to tick away. I leaned back and allowed the blood-stained dagger to drop to the ground. As the blade hit the ground with a dull thud, I looked up at the sky overhead.

Beams of golden sunlight broke through the gray, dead bark of the canopy. They warmed my face as they hit my pale skin. I could feel myself bathing in their radiance, allowing myself to finally relax as the one who I had trusted so much and pledged my life to serve laid dying underneath me.

Finally, I thought to myself, I can rest once more.

The distinct tinkling of cracking glass brought me out of my reverie. I looked down to see that black cracks had formed along the bleeding laceration across Podë's throat. Inch by inch, slowly at first but rapidly increasing in speed, the cracks spread until every visible part of the witch's body had spiderwebbed.

“What the hell,” I heard myself mutter out loud as I slowly picked myself up off her lithe form. The first piece of skin flaked away, falling to the ground like a shattered piece of crystal. One by one, the other pieces fell away, revealing a tanner shade of skin underneath.

The busty chest held in place by a red dress flaked apart to reveal a conservative blue tunic top. The lower hems of her clothing gave way to tan slacks. I looked up to the cracked remains of her face. Podë's thin, bird-like features fell away, revealing--

No--

NO--

“Nell--!” My scream echoed throughout the grove. My wonderful assistant Nell, who I took under my wing, who trusted me with her life and developing abilities, laid dying before me. Her thick fingers pressed tightly against her throat. Thick rivers of red flowed between the spaces as she tried to staunch the flow.

Tears built up in the corner of my eyes as I stared at her in shock. She was going to die in minutes, and it was all my fault. It was me who punched her out. It was me who dragged that knife across her throat. It was me who said all those hateful things to her, thinking that it was Podë that I was seeing with me in the grove--all of those things I would have never said to her in a million years.

And she was going to die here, thinking that I had nothing but hatred and venom on my mind and betrayal in my heart.

Nell struggled to draw her final breaths as I scooped her up by the back of her head. A warm trickle ran down my cheeks as I cradled the dying girl close. I barely noticed that her blood was getting all over my vest and pants. All I cared about was the girl and I spending our final moments together.

“Sweetie... Nell... By the gods, I... I didn't...” I was finding it difficult to talk. There was so much going through my mind, I couldn't put thoughts into words. This was my fault. My fault alone. I should have never brought her to Salvar. If I had abandoned her in Corone, she would be alive tomorrow.

Her bright blue eyes focused long enough to look at me. As she laid there in my arms, her face told a tale of confusion and sadness as endless as the skies above. She was crying, salty tears stinging her wounded lip and mixing with the dark crimson liquid that poured from her veins.

The girl's lips quivered. She would be unable to speak, but that did not stop her from trying. I leaned in closer to her, trying desperately to make out what she was trying to say.

Why, she was asking. Why? Why, why, why?

Over and over and over. I loved her dearly, she loved me, and now she laid dying by my hand.

I wiped away tears with the back of my hand. I had to think of something, anything! Deep down, I knew that this was it for her. I just didn't want to admit it. No matter what I do now, she is doomed to die in the middle of fucking nowhere. Nobody will ever know what happened to her, or who did it, or why. And it was destroying me. I could feel my heart breaking into thousands of tiny little pieces with each passing breath.

“Nell, please--stay with me. Please, for the love of the gods...” My voice shook as I softly whispered to her.

My assistant kept staring at me. No matter how much pain she was feeling, or how many seconds she had left to life, she did not look away from me. I stroked the side of her face gingerly, trying desperately to let her know how incredibly sorry I was for what had transpired.

It was then I had an idea: Nemo's Marionette. The special strain of cordyceps that grew inside of me! It would keep Nell alive!

I turned my hand up in front of her face. The thin vines parted to reveal a trio of shallow blue pods in my palm. A dark navy cloud of cordyceps spores swirled into the air, keeping close to the pods as it hovered in place.

Nell could see the desperation in my eyes as I was willing to give her a chance at extended life. Her vision fluttered down towards the cloud just inches from her face. “Come on,” I pleaded with her. “Please... Just breathe this in... Please, Nell... I don't want to lose you...”

Weakly, she reached up with a bloodied hand and pushed it away from her. The dark blue clump of spores dissipated in the air as she let out a long, final breath. Nell's hand dropped into her lap, and her head rolled to the side in my cradled arm.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I couldn't tell you how long I sat there, unmoving and empty, holding close the rapidly-cooling body of my best friend. Was it seconds? Minutes? Hours?

My eyes had cried themselves red and sore. Tracks of tears that ran down my cheeks were drying up. Nell's bleeding had eventually stopped. My vine-woven arms were caked in her blood. The fabric of my pants and leather vest were likewise darkened with crimson. I could smell nothing but the distinct metallic tang of blood. Innocent blood; blood that I had spilled because I let my hatred and paranoia get the best of me.

Over and over, those horrible seconds replayed themselves on a loop. I could vividly see my dagger plunging into her tender flesh and cutting across her throat in a straight line. I recalled with photographic accuracy the spurting of blood as it left her body and the sight of her convulsing and unable to stop the life from leaving her body. I could perfectly hear her gasping coughs as she tried against all hope to draw breath.

A fresh wave of tears made their way into my eyes as I pulled her close once again. I hugged her tightly and shook my head. “Nell,” I whispered softly, even though she would never hear me again. “Please... Please come back... Don't do this to me... I can't lose you... Nell, please...”

The sense of loss I was suffering was causing an intense pain deep in my chest. All of this regret, this sadness, the horrible feeling that it was I who did this to her was crushing me. I could escape its incredible weight on my heart.

I did not hear the soft footsteps approach me from behind. A light breeze rustled through the thick fabric of her red dress as the figure knelt beside me.

A familiar voice reached out, its tones dark and somber. “Now, my little monster, have we learned our lesson?”

The words rattled around my skull as I absorbed the weight of them. A lesson. A stupid fucking lesson. That's what this was. That's how she treated all things beautiful for all these thousands of years; things to take away from others as if she were a parent taking toys away from their children.

She had done it with Lindequalmë to punish the Raiaerans.

She did the same thing to one of the few things I cherished in this world.

Podë shifted her weight around to sit on the forest floor next to me. I could not bring myself to look at her. I did not want to see the smile on her face... That wretched, monstrous smile that she wore as a mask to hide her true demonic nature. “I can see into your mind now. I can taste the venom that courses through your veins. I can feel your burning hatred, Madison Freebird. It burns hotter than the fires of the sun. An inferno that has been slowly building since the day you were born. Your parents stoked that flame, hoping to harness its energy for their own gain. And yet, they could not control it; and they found themselves consumed by it.”

I recalled the first night that I had been gifted the false god's power, and how I used it to mutilate and warp the bodies of my parents until they could not handle it anymore and their hearts quit on them.

“A fire that, try as you might, cannot quash,” she continued softly. “It keeps building and building and building in intensity. It is a fire that burns you and everything that you have loved and will ever love.” The Red Witch nudged Nell's foot with her hand.

“She did nothing to deserve this,” I managed to croak after several seconds of silence.

“What you think is irrelevant,” Podë snapped back. “You had orders to observe, and nothing more. You watched my plans unfold before your very eyes, and you became jealous and acted on your emotions instead of rational thought.”

“You gifted others with the power I was due--”

“You were unworthy of that power.”

If her words were intended to wound me, they had no effect. I was already a shattered woman, a broken shell of the monster that I always thought myself to be.

Podë leaned closer to me, grabbing me by the chin with a wiry, vein-webbed hand and forcing me to hold her vicious gaze. “Your hatred has always been your undoing, even to this very day. Until you are able to temper your fury and learn to not act on impulse, you will always be unworthy of it.”

“Then why choose me,” I asked hollowly.

The witch's smile warmed just a touch. “Because you held so much promise. And yet, there are others who do as well... Others who have survived the trials I put before them...”

In that very moment, I snapped. It wasn't enough that Podë found me unworthy to inherit her power; no, she had to run me down by taunting me with the prospect of others who will be her successors. She had to play with the lives of the few that I held dear and the lives of others, gambling with them like they were nothing more than pieces of gold while she played her eons-old games. I was suffering, I was heartbroken, I was cast aside, and it was all because I had sought her out all those months ago in the first place.

I dropped Nell onto the forest floor and sprung onto Podë. Catching her off-guard, I tackled her. We crashed into each other, rolling through patches of weeds and fallen branches as I struggled to gain the upper hand. I tapped into every last ounce of hate and bile and venom I could conjure up to pin her down. I planted my knee on her chest and wrapped my briar-knit hands around her throat. I squeezed with every fiber of my being in an effort to close her windpipe. Summoning four thick lengths of vines from my arms, I wrapped those around her neck as well and clamped down.

She fought me for several seconds. She desperately sucked for air and clawed at my arms and vines, but I would not relent. Her emerald eyes were beginning to turn red and bulge out of her skull as her head was being deprived of precious oxygen. I would show her the true extent of my hatred. If she thought of it as an inferno, I would show her how badly she would burn for all of the trouble she had caused me.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

The Forgotten One found the strength to latch both of her hands onto the sides of my head. Electricity burst into my field of vision, and I screamed as a pain like none other I have ever felt raced down my spine.

When the bright lights faded from my eyes I found myself not in the Red Forest, but on the familiar cobblestone streets of Knife's Edge in Salvar. Even in the light of the midday sun, the air was chilly. I was standing in the middle of a throng of people. All around me, I could hear their expectant murmurs. Looking around, I couldn't see what was the fuss was about.

I turned to the nearest person, a middle-aged woman with salt and pepper hair pulled back in a ponytail and a thick fur coat draped around her shoulders. “What's going on?”

“Oh, you didn't know? They caught a couple assassins that made an attempt on one of the local lords' lives. They're getting ready to hang them right now.”

I felt myself compelled to push through towards the front of the assemble mass. My body moved on its own, weaving between the blocky shoulders of burly men as I pressed on. It didn't take long to navigate towards the front of the group.

Before me stood imposing gallows with two nooses hanging off them. They had been hastily assembled in the middle of a square of sorts, a fountain that had long since dried up standing in the background while stone buildings towered overhead around me like the walls of a prison.

A formally-dressed man had been prattling on, something about the righteousness of the law or whatever, but it was that moment that I noticed the two men dressed in dirty rags who had thick ropes fitted around their necks.

They were Diggs and Hedge. The two other associates of the Crimson Hand that I was able to save from the horrors that were the Eiskalt War. The two Blades who had become close friends of mine, who I could trust with my life.

From behind oily locks of black hair that had dangled in front of his unshaven face, Hedge noticed me at the front of the crowd. He said nothing... just kept glaring at me with this look of utter contempt. As if I had betrayed him and left him to meet his ultimate fate at the end of a thick rope. As if it were all my fault he were up there awaiting death.

A man considerably less fancifully dressed tightly gripped the release handle and yanked it. The floor fell out between the two mercs, and I found myself screaming and reaching out to them as their necks snapped and their bodies convulsed while hanging from the nooses.

The streets of Knife's Edge swirled away, and my hand met the stained oak of a door that pushed open with my touch. The heavy wooden slab swung away to reveal a very familiar location--hewn from stone contained deep within a nearby mountain, the room was cold and uninviting. A tattered carpet faded by time and the elements led the way.

I felt myself pushed from behind by a pair of heavy hands. Unwillingly, I moved along. The heavy sounds of my boots hitting the floor echoed against the barren walls. The dim lights of torches lit the way as the hidden figures and I continued to walk. We moved in wordless silence, until I could make out a figure seated in a throne crafted entirely of bone.

It was then that it hit me that I was inside the Seventh Sanctum, home of the Order of the Crimson Hand. And on that throne sat a man who had no right to be there--the Crimson Assassin himself, Lichensith Ulroke. That pale son of a bitch had managed to find his way out of the prison that we had him locked away in.

Before I could open my mouth to say anything I felt the hidden figure behind me push me down to my knees and yank my head back by my raven-black hair, fully exposing my neck to the dangerous assassin.

Ulroke leaned forward, a look of mirth etched across his usually dour face. With a spidery hand, he moved an errant length of silver hair out of his eyes. “Madison Freebird; the usurper, the bothersome little weed,” he spat, his voice humorless. “It was only a matter of time, wasn't it? Only a matter of time when one of the vipers you surround yourself with turned their fangs on you...”

The assassin smiled as he nodded towards the figure at my back. The serrated edge of a steel dagger found purchase on my neck. I could feel the person's hot breath on my back as he leaned in close. His raspy, threatening voice was immediately recognizable the moment he spoke, turning my blood into ice. “Sorry, luv,” hissed the tiefling Aurelianus Drak'shal as he brought the cold sharp blade across my throat.

Instead of swiftly fading to black, I was whisked away to another place where I lived through the final moments of either someone else close to me or my own at their hands. I got to watch Tobias Stalt, dressed in the garb of a Witch Hunter for the Ethereal Sway, get the free will burned out of him by their purifying fires. I witnessed first-hand my entire crew within the Hands of the Mind get slaughtered by an experiment in summoning gone terribly awry. I watched in horror as I plunged my daggers into the chest of Philomel van der Aart.

I lived through, again and again, the destruction of every single one of my friends and loved ones. Every single possible scenario, with every single possible outcome. I was losing them, over and over and over again. Each vision was a deep cut in my blackened soul, knowing that they were dying because of me and my actions.

Stop this. I can't handle it. I can't take it anymore.

Stop...

Please, I'm begging you...