enough?”
The darkness swirled around them, then collected into a doorway that Velixar stepped through. Qurrah knelt at his entrance while Tessanna curtseyed. The man in black eyed the body, then clapped his hands together.
“All as I hoped,” he said. He knelt and touched the body. Shadows lifted it from the ground. They took shape, becoming a long-legged, spindly-armed creature without eyes or a mouth. The thing held Delysia’s body in its arms and sprinted east with blinding speed. Velixar bade his disciple to rise.
“A man dear to me passed away this night,” he said. “And now they will suffer in turn. You are strong, Qurrah, and you grow stronger still. Come. Your army awaits.”
“My army,” he muttered. He clutched the dagger tight with both hands and looked at his master. “Please. Take us to my army.”
Another portal of shadow opened. Velixar stepped through, followed by Tessanna. Out of sight, Qurrah finally let the tears free. He wanted to kneel and beg for his brother to forgive him, but instead he placed the dagger underneath his right eye and slashed downward. He screamed. His tears mixed with blood. Before he lost his nerve, he placed the dagger underneath his left eye and did the same.
“I will not cry for you anymore, brother,” he told the darkness. “Let my tears mix with blood so I may remember this vow.”
He slid the bloody weapon into the sash of his robe and stepped through. Neither Tessanna nor Velixar asked about the wounds upon his face. It was if, somehow, they understood.
H arruq awoke with a screaming headache and a throbbing pain in his side. He guessed the headache to be from hunger and exhaustion, and the pain from the hilt of his sword digging into his side. He rubbed his eyes and looked about. The rest of the Eschaton were asleep on the pews. A few torches flickered and died, bathing him in darkness.
Tun…
The half-orc spun, for the voice had come from behind. Nothing, just a closed door. He thought perhaps it was Haern testing him, but he was curled up in a bundle of gray robes beside Aurelia. It wasn’t Tarlak either, for the mage slept in the far corner, twitching and shifting as if trapped in unpleasant dreams.
Betrayer…
He drew his swords. Their red light seemed demonic in the holy place. Harruq debated waking the others. So few would call him betrayer. Only Qurrah…
He felt a shiver crawl up his spine. There was another who would label him as such.
Do you suffer yet?
He knew that voice. That cold feeling. The man in black had returned.
“Show yourself,” Harruq whispered. He stood in the aisle between the pews, constantly spinning and searching.
Listen to me, Harruq Tun. You can avoid more pain. You can avoid more suffering. Take your lover and go.
“What is it you want?” Harruq asked the silence. “What is it that brought you back from the abyss where you belonged?”
You lost a daughter. Do not lose more. You can still come to my fold. You can join your brother and fight at his side. Do not let pain cloud your judgment.
The half-orc approached the giant doors to the temple. His armor creaked, and he kept waiting for someone to wake from his noise. None did.
“I am not what you wanted,” he whispered. “I am not what you tried to make me be. You failed, Velixar, and damn me for letting Qurrah fail with you.”
My life for you. That was your promise. If you deny me what was promised, then I must take it from another, and another, until your life is either mine or ended. There is no other way. You and your friends killed one dear to me. I have done so in kind. Suffer, Harruq Tun. Suffer in your betrayal.
The half-orc kicked open the door, swords raised to strike. Velixar was not there, only the cold body of Delysia. His blood froze. His swords fell from his hands, and their loud ringing upon hitting the stone awoke the others. He staggered back, slamming the door shut to block the sight. He fell to his knees, his hands digging into his face. Her throat was cut, her clothes torn…but most damning was the single word carved across her forehead.
Tun.
“What’s going on,” Haern asked, the first to reach his side. When Harruq did not answer, he pushed open the door. All time halted for the assassin. He did not move. He did not breath. When time resumed, he sheathed his blades and knelt beside her body. He lifted her into his arms and carried her inside. The others were waking, each stirring from a deep sleep. Harruq kept his eyes shut, hating his brother more than he had ever hated someone in his life. And then he heard Tarlak’s cry.
“What happened,” he heard him shout. “No, she’s alright she…she…”
He opened his eyes at the sound of Tarlak’s weeping. Somehow the torches had been relit. Delysia lay on the floor before Tarlak’s curled form. Aurelia was at his side, her arms around him. He accepted the embrace and buried his face into her bosom. Haern stood by them, tears on his face. Even Mira cried, overwhelmed by the sorrow her keen mind drank in from the room. Only the paladins remained firm.
“Hear me, Tarlak,” Lathaar said, kneeling beside Delysia’s body. “There is no emptiness in my words, only truth and compassion. She has gone to a place beyond our suffering. She dwells in a land foreign to our tears. Everything we feel, we feel for ourselves.”
“My sister,” Tarlak sobbed. “My only sister…”
Lathaar took her body into his arms and stood.
“Ashhur gave her life, and now he has taken that life back to his arms.”
He carried her outside. Tarlak followed at Aurelia’s insistence. Harruq stayed where he was. When the wizard cast his eyes to him he dared not meet them. When the door slammed shut, the half-orc thought himself alone. He was not.
“Get up.” Harruq looked up to see Jerico standing over him, his arms crossed. “I said get up.”
“Leave me be,” Harruq grumbled.
Jerico struck his fist against the half-orc’s face. The pain flared his anger, and he glared death at the paladin.
“What the abyss is the matter…”
“It is one thing to mourn,” Jerico said. “But you aren’t mourning. You’re drowning yourself in guilt and grief. That was your name carved upon her forehead, wasn’t it?” Harruq’s look was answer enough. “Why, then? What is the meaning behind it? Answer me.”
“A long time ago, me and Qurrah swore our lives to Karak,” he said. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t stop staring at Jerico’s eyes. They imprisoned him. “I turned my back on Karak when I fell in love with Aurelia. Qurrah fell in love with a girl named Tessanna. Aurry pulled me away from the darkness, but Tess just pulled Qurrah further and further in.”
“Tessanna is the other daughter of balance,” Jerico asked.
Harruq shrugged. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No matter,” the paladin said. “Another time. So now Karak tortures you for your choice? He does not take kindly to those who escape his grasp. You may be just one life, but just as Ashhur celebrates with every soul that welcomes him into their heart, so too does Karak fume with each loss.”
“Brug, Delysia, Aullienna…” Harruq shook his head. “How many will he take? How many will suffer for my sins?”
“None will, and none have,” Jerico said. “Your sins haven’t earned you the pain you feel. It is the good in your life. Karak could not hurt those you love without you loving them in the first place. Would you sacrifice everything good just to avoid your pain?”
“I’ve slain children,” Harruq said, confessing though he knew not why. “And when my daughter was killed, I thought it punishment for my crimes.”
“And so you felt the burden yours,” Jerico said, finishing the thought. “Will you let every good deed you perform be overshadowed by your past? If so, there is no point. Go join your brother. Join Karak. But if you wish your sins forgotten, join us with Ashhur and accept the grace he freely offers. The darkness in your life is caused by others, not the past you seek atonement from.”
