If Lena’s gone ahead without heeding your warnings, she’s going to have to fend for herself, because there’s no way you’re taking chances with just the word of this asshole.

“If you paid attention to history and old stories like you say you do, then you’d also know that I was never one to show mercy to my enemies. You’re a bigger fool than your friend Brutus if you’re thinking I’m going to let you go for any reason.”
“I had to try.” The eternal says with a resigned sigh. He turns and nods to his cohorts and they scatter in different directions while he advances on you.

Great, now you’ll have to chase them all down.

You dispatch the big talker fairly quickly, you manage to catch another one with your armbow before he gets too far and you finally chase down the third one just as he reaches the front gate. You notice several citizens starting to creep out from their homes and other hiding places. Still helpful as ever.

You head quickly to the “mansion” sized home near the marshlands. You approach cautiously and that’s when you see Lena waiting nearby it. Apparently she decided to listen after all.

“What took you so long? I’d like to get rid of this bastard and change out of these wet clothes.”
“Glad to see you listened for once, but didn’t you think I’d need help?”
“You told me, not to worry about you and to just wait for you.”
“Hmm, I suppose I did. Nevermind, did you have any problems?”
“Other than having to pull leeches off my body? No. There were a couple eternals near the area where I came through, but I killed them while they were still trying to make up their minds on whether or not to leave their posts to investigate the noise you were stirring up at the front gate. Besides that, I investigated the surrounding area outside this house and I haven’t seen any evidence that Brutus has tried to leave it.”
“Let’s just hope he doesn’t have some sort of underground tunnel built. Let’s go.”

After breaking down the door, you cautiously move throughout the house. While certainly bigger than the rest of homes in Sinkhole, it probably doesn’t look much better from the inside. The place is a wreck, you’d think as a leader he’d want to keep his own home in better condition, but then given that you live in an underground hole of a collapsed temple which was already in ruins when you arrived there, maybe you aren’t exactly in a position to make judgments as far as living arrangements are concerned.

“No traps so far.” Lena whispers.
“Considering there’s so much junk and garbage in this place, they could be well hidden. Keep a look out anyway, and stay quiet! No need to give our position away.”
“I’m sure he already knows we’re…”

Before Lena can complete her statement, Brutus appears from around a corner and nearly takes her head off with an axe. Fortunately for her, you block the attack. At last you get a close look at the great leader himself, and once again you’re unimpressed by what you see. Makes this whole endeavor hardly even worth it at this point.

“I’ll make you wish you hadn’t come back from the dead shadow!” Brutus exclaims right before you shut him up with a head-butt and then slicing his belly open. Falling to the floor and desperately attempting to hold in his entrails he starts to scoot back from you.

“You new eternals always talk too much.” You say. “Lena…if you’d like to do the honors.”

Lena wastes no time in taking up your offer. She points her spear at Brutus, who makes a plea for his life through bribery. It doesn’t work and Lena skewers him in the chest with the spear.

Then she does it again… and again… and again… and…

“Sonofabitch! You killed my family! Bastard! Die! Die! Fuck you…” Lena sobs the whole time.
“Lena he’s dead. You can stop now. He can’t order anyone else anymore. None of them can do anything anymore, we killed them all.” You say and grab the spear from her.

She looks at you with tears streaming down from her eyes and for the first time since that first night you saw her assaulted she looks vulnerable again. The hardened exterior has allowed itself to collapse. She hugs tightly you and continues to sob. You aren’t exactly sure how to react except to reciprocate for a moment, but you’re uncomfortable so you gently push her away when you feel enough time has passed. She’s still upset, but begins to compose herself.

“(sniff) So what’s next?” she asks.
“What do you mean?”
“What’s next? I mean we killed all of the eternals here in Delerg. Aren’t we going to go to Quala and continue? Where should we strike first?”

You figured something like this would happen. Lena isn’t going to stop here. Already her desire for more vengeance is taking over. And while you certainly understand it and even agree with it to an extent, you just aren’t sure if this is truly the path for her.

She has talent to be sure, but she’s attempting to take on a task that will far exceed her abilities even with you at her side. That’s the other problem. You fear that you might not even be on your best performance since you’ll always be worrying about her in the back of your mind.

Still part of you would like to continue your partnership with her wherever that may lead. You certainly aren’t moping around like you used to and Lena’s enthusiasm bring a bit of a joy to your life.
> You persuade against her idea
This isn’t going to be easy or fun for you, but it is regrettably necessary. You’re going to not only have to convince her that she shouldn’t pursue this path, but also push her away in general.

“Lena, you won, be happy with your victory. I know you’d like to kill every eternal out there, but it just isn’t feasible.”
“I won? My family is still fucking dead!”
“And? You think you’re the only one who’s ever lost something dear to them? Going on a vengeance crusade still isn’t going to bring them back and it’s just going to get you killed!”
“What the hell else do I have to live for?!”
“What do you have to live for? You’re still young for one thing, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Yes, what happened was tragic for you, but you’ve grown stronger because of it and you survived the ordeal. Now make the most of it. Live your life. Find someone to settle down with or whatever it is normal people do.”
“Normal people…do you really think I can go back to a normal life? Be someone’s little housewife?”
“Okay maybe not normal…look I’m just saying you going on some fool errand of trying to kill every one of those assholes claiming to be eternals is going to get you killed. Not all of them are going to be as inept as the ones that were hanging around here. The other ones? They’re constantly at war and are battle hardened. I guarantee they’ll be much tougher opponents and much more organized.”
“But wouldn’t you be there to help? You could train me more and…you could start up a rebellion in Quala! Just like you did in the old days you told me about!”
“Ha ha. No, those days are long over. I’ve told you that before. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not training you any more. You are not meant for this sort of life. I helped clear out this swamp and now I will probably go back to my previous life of solitude.”

Lena begins to tear up again. It’s obvious she doesn’t like where this is going.

“You’re kicking me out of your home aren’t you?”
“(Sigh) You had to know this arrangement wasn’t going to last forever. I know you’ll find some place to be I mean I’m sure you’ll be treated very well by most people considering you just helped remove their oppressors.”
“Save me your words, (sniffle) I thought we were…a team…I thought you cared…just go away. Leave me alone.”

You don’t say anything else, because saying anything else is just going to make things harder and likely make things worse. So you just leave.

It feels like forever getting back home, but eventually you do and head straight to the garden.

“I’m back home, just like I said I would be. I even brought you something.” You say and put some blue flowers you picked on your way back home on her grave.

“Oh Lena? Yeah she’s gone. I think its for the best she didn’t live here anymore y’know? Dendrin already impedes on us enough. Didn’t need her around too.”

“I mean if she’d stayed she would’ve just been miserable here and eventually we would’ve ended up going to Quala like she wanted and she would’ve gotten herself killed. At least this way, she won’t do it now…well I suppose I can’t be sure of that, but I think the fact that she waited for me instead of charging into Brutus’ place by herself is a good indication. Showed me she’s always heeded my advice and not only that, she’s not as overly confidant as I thought she was. Without me around she’ll eventually abandoned her need for vengeance and settle into the normal life she was supposed to lead. She… deserves it, don’t you think?” you say with your voice quivering a bit.

You begin to wipe your eyes and sniffle a bit.

“No, of course I didn’t love her! What kind of opportunist would I be if I took advantage of some girl half my age that had a shitload of emotional baggage and a fragile personality? I’d be no better than those wannabe eternals that’s what. Besides, I didn’t think of her in that way, I just…look I’m tired all right? I’m going to bed.”

You leave the garden and collapse on your bed. It takes awhile but eventually you start to fall asleep hoping that you don’t have to put up with any smart-ass comments from Dendrin anytime soon.

He has uncharacteristically heard you for once because he leaves you alone for quite some time.

You briefly consider doing what you told Lena not to do and that’s go kill eternals in the Quala region, but really that bores you already. Besides, you feel it isn’t going to be quite as much fun anymore without Lena around.

It suddenly occurs to you that you should do some travelling again. You don’t have much else to do, so why not? Still, this will always be your home no matter what. You won’t leave for good. You just need a change of scenery.

You decide that you’ll travel not to places you’ve already been or already know about, but to parts unknown, namely Delerg itself. Despite it being part of the Empire, much of it still remains unexplored. You decide you might as well stay relatively close to home if you have the intention of coming back.

You pack up some gear and get ready to go, of course saying good-bye to Talia and telling her you’ll return eventually.

Year 50

Passing the time by exploring uncharted parts of Delerg has kept you a bit busy over these past few years. It’s amazing that nobody had done it before, but the stories about the Delerg swamp being much more hostile the deeper you went were true.

You travelled north for quite awhile, but eventually the swamp thinned out completely until it turned into vast bodies of water. Going further would’ve required a boat and you didn’t really have any wish to do that once you saw a glimpse of some of the things lurking in the water.

Travelling east was an ordeal that you nearly didn’t survive. The swamp became more jungle like and it almost seemed as if the land itself was protecting something or otherwise it just didn’t want anyone going further east. You did battle with several beasts that you’d never seen before and probably nobody else from the “civilized” world had either. It wasn’t just beasts that were hostile, or even the plants, but also a short dark race of humans. Their small stature didn’t make them any less dangerous. Eventually you had to turn back because of the constant attacks that even you couldn’t keep defending against. You swear the trees must’ve been spawning the little bastards.

Thankfully as an eternal you’re somewhat resistant to poisons, because it served you well during that time.

Still if you stopped doing something just because it nearly killed you, you wouldn’t have accomplished anything in your life. So eventually you travelled south and beyond the swamp and jungle you discovered a whole new land, yet very much the same as the one you’re familiar with.

Four tribes, two of them human, one elven and another one reptilian, all of them warring with each other and all of them fairly hostile towards you when confrontation was your only option with them.

From what you could figure out, three of the factions were all displaced by the Empire in some way when it still existed. The reptilian tribe apparently was nearly exterminated by the shadows in the earlier days of the Empire as they once lived in the Delerg province. (Which explains why they were especially hostile towards you)

You explored as much as you could and eventually departed leaving the factions to their private war.

Naturally the whole time you were exploring you were periodically returning back home. Delerg itself never changed, it was the same quiet place it always had been. Every once in a while you’d attempt to trade goods in Sinkhole for the rare items you might need, people never accepted any payment you might offer and instead just handed it to you for free. Nowadays you’re considered the last shadow protector of the land and well respected. Of course you aren’t the only one.

Lena is also well respected thanks to her deeds. Her assumption that she would never be able to fit into a normal life again were wrong as she did find someone to settle down. Though she was right that she would not be a simple housewife and is a hunter and trapper by trade. You know she lives in one of the smaller villages, probably much like the one she grew up in, but you’ve never spoken to her directly. You see no point in dredging up the past and you have both gone your separate ways now. You’re glad that she managed to move on, which is more than can be said for others…

“Why have you been writing a lot lately? Never known you to pursue such interests.” Dendrin asks.
“I dunno. Why not? Not like I’m currently wandering topside at the moment and I already read all the books here. Figured I’d write about stuff I encountered or did on my last travels.”
“So you’re writing a book?”
“More like a personal journal. Not like I’m going to share it with anyone.”
“So why do it?”
“As I said, why not? Don’t you have something better to do?”
“Not really, though I thought you would be considering the impending invasion.”
“Invasion?”
“Yes, the invasion. I know you’ve been running all over the place lately, but haven’t you been keeping up on the local discussions, I assumed you had since I know you do visit Sinkhole on occasion. One of those eternals or several of them apparently have figured out this place has no active resistance of any kind and would be easy pickings.”
“Oh that. Yes I’m aware of what’s going on and I’ve been preparing for the inevitable.”
“What? Your usual training? You really think you’re going to be able to pull off what you did before by yourself? You do realize that if this place is invaded again, it won’t be occupied by the ones that were here before?”
“Yes, I’m well aware and as I said, I’ll be ready.”
“Are you planning on leaving?”
“No, but I’m glad you’ve still got faith in my combat abilities…as I asked before, don’t you have something better to do?”
“I might have to find something better to do soon if you aren’t around anymore.” Dendrin says.

You wake up.

You’re also left to ponder his “concern” for you. He’s right in that if there is an invasion, it’ll most likely be a proper army like when the Empire occupied Delerg.

So what can you really do about it if it does happen? Leave? You’re past thinking like that. This is your home until the day you die.

Fight? You probably will eventually just to break up the monotony, but you doubt if you’ll be able to keep your “secret” home a secret. Ever since you made your reappearance it’s a well known fact of where you live by most of the Delergites. Even the group of eternals you got rid of before eventually figured it out, though by that time they were too damned scared to ever launch any sort of offensive.

The other problem to this is you are starting to feel your age. It’s partly why you stopped your exploring and returned home to rest. Fighting your own extended personal war by yourself for any reason is getting to be less of a viable option especially if this potential invasion force is dead set on keeping the province. And it isn’t like anyone else is going to help…

Well perhaps one person might, but the situation would be vastly different and she has her own life now, though you wonder what sort of life that might be when the invasion comes.

The only other option you have is to just lay low in the temple and never come out when the invasion arrives. You could easily seal up the entrance that even if it were found, it wouldn’t be easy to get in.
> You live as you have
You spent many years practically buried alive, you’re not about to spend your remaining life that way. Better you should just die in battle instead. Of course you only intend on doing that if there are no other options.

So if this place stands any chance at all you’re going to enlist the help of the only person you know that will fight tooth and nail. You have no idea how Lena is going to react to seeing you again, but its something you’re going to have to do.

You travel to the small village that lies to the south of Sinkhole where you know Lena has made her home. Its nameless, unspectacular and the people there live simple lives, but that’s usually the standard for the villages around here.

After asking a few of the locals, one of them directs you to where Lena’s house is located. It doesn’t surprise you that it’s a bit isolated from the rest of the village. In any case it looks a lot better made than the rest. The muscular man outside chopping wood might have something to do with that though. He’s younger than you, though probably not more than ten years and probably a wood cutter by trade. He puts down his axe when he notices you walking up, which shows he doesn’t sense believe you mean him harm. While he’s probably a little surprised by your presence, it’s obvious he knows who you are, why not? Everyone does in this swamp.

“So…the shadow finally comes to visit. I always wondered when this day would come. My name is Henry. Lena has spoken about you on several occasions.”
“Nothing good I expect.”
“On the contrary, she’s always spoken highly of you. If I was a more insecure man, I’d probably be jealous. However, I believe the bond I have with Lena is an unbreakable one…well save for death of course. Even love must give way for reality after all.”

Shows how much he knows given that you still speak to Talia as if she were still alive. Of course you may not exactly be the beacon of sanity.

“Anyway, if you’re here to see Lena, she’s out right now hunting, but should be back soon. I can’t promise that she’ll greet you warmly however.” Henry remarks and then crying is heard on the front porch of the house from a basket. He excuses himself to go see to it.

You watch from a distance as you see Henry take a child from the basket and make the usual parental reassurances to calm the child. The child must only be a few months old, you didn’t know that Lena had a baby recently. You hear the name Tulla being said a few times and then Henry looks back over to you.

“A handful this one sometimes. Still worth it though.” He says to you with a smile.
“Worth fighting for I hope.” You reply.

Henry’s smile disappears at your remark.

“Of course.”
“Well that would make you better than most parents in this forsaken swamp. But the willingness to fight isn’t going to carry the day you know.”

“Neither is an old broken down eternal who belongs to a long dead order.” A familiar voice says. You turn around and see Lena carrying few dead Sul Monkeys and a small Croxidile. She’s changed a bit, a little older and weathered by life, but its still the girl you remember. She motions to Henry to go inside and he nods and complies.

“So that’s the family huh?” you say. “I didn’t realize you had recently given birth. Congratulations I guess. I knew you’d find…”
“Why are you here?” Lena asks as she sets up the Sul Monkeys for skinning.
“Okay, right to the point then…there’s an invasion coming.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of the rumors.”
“I doubt if they’re rumors at this point.”
“So? What are you suggesting then?”
“I really don’t know. I mean…(Sigh) look if there is an army coming from Quala, they aren’t going to be the push overs that were here before.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that too. That’s why I’ve been trying to build up a resistance. I dunno if they’ll be any good in a fight, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Wait, you mean you actually got people to potentially help you? When?”
“I’ve been doing it ever since you abandoned me. Making contacts, building up friendships and all that stuff. I’m surprised that you didn’t know about it, but then you have been traipsing around the swamp for the past few years. Surprised you didn’t just leave for good. I mean what is there for you here?”
“Its my home too you know.”

Lena snorts at your answer.

“Home…you don’t have a home. You aren’t even a true shadow by your own admission. The only reason why you still live here is because you buried Talia in that wrecked temple you call home. You can’t move on.”
“Perhaps, but someone else hasn’t moved on from her school girl crush either apparently. Henry’s nearly my age. He’s my height and his hair is even my color, one might call that… substitution.”
“Don’t you dare criticize Henry! He’s a good man! Better than you’ll ever be!” Lena shouts, but you notice she is careful enough to throw down her skinning knife before getting in your face and poking you in the chest. Not that you would’ve taken it as a serious threat anyway.

“Again perhaps, but I didn’t come here to criticize him or fight with you. Look, I’m going to be fighting the eternals regardless of your answer, but I thought it might be wise to contact someone else who I know is a fighter. Apparently though you’ve managed to find more though so perhaps you don’t need my help. Now if you don’t want or need my help, I shall take my leave, but it’s always here if you want it directly.”

Lena says nothing other than picking up her knife and going back to skinning. You turn to leave and get about a few paces, before she calls back to you.

“Wait. Since you’re more out of the loop than I thought, it might be good to bring you up to speed on the specifics of what is known and what is planned. If only to make sure you don’t get in the way of our own operations with your lone wolf tactics. So let me finish this first and you can come on in. We’ll have dinner before going over some of the details.”
“Very well.” You respond.

After your visit is over, you leave with a better grasp of what’s to come. You just aren’t optimistic about it being enough, but then fighting the odds has always been what you’ve done all your life. No point in changing precedent.
> …
Year 55

You always were one to defy the odds, but you knew it could only end like this.

Luck certainly played a large factor in your favor at the beginning. First off the invasion rumors were still just rumors for quite a while. It gave you and Lena more time to prepare and it was definitely preparation that was needed.

By the time the eternal warlord Victor sent anyone to establish dominance, most of the population had actually been motivated to help. This was mostly thanks to Lena again, as well others she recruited. Victor’s first attempt was surprisingly diplomatic, as he sent in an ambassador of sorts along with a company of his troops in Sinkhole. There was an attempt to talk the Delergites into just capitulating with assurances that no harm would come to them if they had. Ultimately these empty promises were wasted and with your help, the first battle of Delerg was a crushing defeat for Victor. There was a lot of celebrating afterwards.

You knew it was just the beginning though.

The first few years were a back and forth guerilla war. Victor immediately seized Sinkhole and made it his base of operations. Battles were fought throughout the swamp and jungle. Some of the villages were occupied during this time, but there was still hope.

Then came the moment you knew was going to happen and that’s when Victor got tired of playing nice.

Losing way more troops and spending a lot more time than he wanted to, Victor started making demands that if the Delergites didn’t surrender immediately he was going to set the whole province to the torch. He also wanted you personally to be delivered to him dead or alive. He probably assumed that since you were a shadow, you were actually the main one responsible for leading this thing.

There were a couple attempts to assault your home, but you had made sure it was a death trap for anyone even entering the nearby area, let alone the ruins themselves. The other attempt was to surround the area to at least contain you, but that didn’t really work either considering you just used a different access route that you made years ago and they’ll probably never find that one since its nowhere near the ruins and you have to actually swim underwater to access it.

Eventually an order was given to just try to kill you on sight when possible and that the subjugation of Delerg was the main priority.

To her credit Lena managed to maintain the Delergites’ enthusiasm of resisting Victor and most continued to fight, but heart alone isn’t enough sometimes. Victor just sent in more troops and began to make good on his promises of setting the province on fire. Village after village burned. Those that weren’t killed were taken away, probably in slavery.

Things got so grim that you briefly pondered the idea of praying to Dendrin for help if only to try to get your shadow magic back, but given that it didn’t save Talia, you saw no reason to bother. Dendrin even told you not to bother, as he knew you’d never be a believer. Apparently your mere lip service would no longer be sufficient at this point.

Dendrin did suggest that you attempt to convert others to the shadow religion though and he’d be more than willing to grant them powers providing they went through all the normal procedures. You laughed at that idea, you’re no missionary and had no time to bother with whatever self-serving plan Dendrin was hatching. Besides, the Delergites weren’t interested in anything else except surviving the next attack by Victor, they were already committed to one “cause” and that was more than enough.

And now here you are in Lena’s village, the last stand of the Delerg resistance. It doesn’t much resemble a village anymore so much as it resembles a small walled fort now. And when Victor’s forces attack again, it’ll resemble a smoldering ruin.

As you look around the village through the rain you see so many wounded and many more just plain exhausted. Things weren’t even this bad for them under the Empire during its last days. They weren’t even this bad under Brutus’ gang.

This is what fighting the good fight has brought them. Death for those that resist and slavery for those that gave up long ago. All of them have to be thinking or have already thought at one time: “Was it worth it?” Some probably think no. Some probably think yes. And they’d both be right.

It’s definitely what you think and have thought in the past.

The difference is you know that YOU can survive this. You’ll live to fight another day. Its what you’ve always done and it’ll probably what you’ll continue to do until some lucky bastard manages to kill you. Who knows? Maybe that day is sooner than you think.

You really aren’t worried about yourself though; lately you’ve been slightly more concerned about someone else.

And it isn’t Lena.

“Hey Uncle Shadow, are the invaders coming today?” Tulla walks up and asks you seemingly oblivious to the fact that it’s raining.

You have no idea where she got the idea to call you “uncle shadow”, but she’s been doing it for so long now that you don’t bother to tell her not to anymore.

“Probably not in this rain. Victor’s soldiers are still going to need a catapult or battering ram to get through the gates. They aren’t going to be able to drag one of those things here in the mud at least not effectively. Not just mud either, but water as well; the rivers and marsh are overflowing because of the rain. If you look down there you can see we’ve practically got a small moat around us. No my guess is they’ll wait for the rains to stop and then a few days after so the water level drops.” You explain while fixing your hood over your head.
“And then they’ll attack?”
“Yes, and then they’ll probably attack.”
“And will we win again?”

You don’t answer; instead you motion Tulla to the overhanging roof at a nearby sleeping house.

“Didn’t your mother teach you to come in out of the rain?” you say shaking off your own water soaked tunic.
“I like the rain. It feels nice.” Tulla remarks.

It’s funny to see how Tulla was brought up in such a warzone yet she maintains an innocent sense of appreciation for simple things like rain.

“Where is your mother anyway? Shouldn’t she be looking out for you?”
“Oh you know her, she’s busy a lot making plans with people to fight the bad people that attack us. It’s boring to sit there.”
“Perhaps, but you still should stay near her. Its not exactly safe out here.”
“But I am safe, because you’re here and you’re a great warrior! Mommy says so!”
“Hmm. I’ll bet, but I’m also busy and I can’t keep an eye on you all the time.”
“I’ll bet you can! Mommy says that you’re also the fastest warrior here!”
“Mommy talks a lot about me to you does she?”
“Yes! She says that you’re a lot more useful than daddy was.”

You don’t even know how to respond to that. You always figured that even if Lena never did truly “love” Henry, you always thought she at least respected and cared for him. Henry wasn’t a bad guy; he just wasn’t cut out for fighting. It’s certainly not his fault that he died trying to defend this village. He’s only been dead a year and it really doesn’t seem right that she’s bad mouthing him to their daughter like this. Its not really right that she’s always been so distant to Tulla in general, but you’ve never understood that.

Or maybe you do.

Lena’s deluded herself that she’s always pursued this resistance because it’s about defending her family, other families and the homeland from tyranny, and it is to an extent. But her real reasons? She still hasn’t let go of the hate she has for eternals and she wants to kill as many as possible before she dies. (Never mind the fact that it’s mostly other humans actually making up the rank and file of Victor’s troops and Vic himself isn’t anywhere near the battlefield)

In the scheme of things she never really wanted a family because as far as she was concerned her family died when she was a little girl and all that was left was the hatred that burned within. Everyone else to her is a secondary concern. You might be the exception because you managed to better focus her rage and possibly even quell the fire of it a bit.

Who knows what might’ve happened had you taken Lena as some sort of youthful substitute for Talia. Who knows what might’ve happened had Victor not invaded. Would Lena still have insisted on her vendetta?

You don’t know and it isn’t important because it’s the past and now is the present. She has obviously chosen a path and its not one you’re going down because you’re not responsible for her. You’ve helped as much as you could and you’re done.

Still, while it probably won’t do any good, part of you feels like you should go confront Lena before you leave.
> You confront Lena
You’re going to try one last time with Lena. MAYBE you can talk some sense into her.

“Come on.” You say and grab Tulla by her little hand to pull her along as you walk.
“Where are we going?”
“To see your mother.”

Lena usually holds her meetings in a drab looking two-floor house near the center of the village which she’s made into her home since the village was walled up. You go there immediately and find her standing behind a table while she speaks to a bunch of other people standing in the room. It’s packed, but you make your way through the crowd. Lena notices and wonders if you’re here to tell everyone that there’s an attack coming.

“What’s going on? Are those bastards coming to attack us?” Lena asks.
“No, but I need to talk to you NOW.”
“I’m in the middle of something, can’t it wait?”
“No, this is something that needs to be addressed in private, and if you’re unwilling to do so, I’m going to start clearing this room out in a less civilized manner.”

Knowing that you’ll do it, Lena tells everyone that the meeting is over and that everyone should go back to their duties. When the home clears out, you’re left with just Tulla and Lena in the room. You tell Tulla to go upstairs and find something to busy herself with. She complies though she’s not enthusiastic about it. She also isn’t a fool and knows when an argument is about to happen.

“Okay everyone’s gone, now what’s so damned important?” Lena says.
“Well for starters how about your own daughter? You let her wander away like this all the time, knowing damn well how dangerous it is.”
“She seeks you out right? I trust that you’ll look after her.”
“Yeah, but the problem with that is I’m not her damn parent and I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on other things that are of more importance remember?”
“And? I just sit around all day doing nothing? What exactly do you think I do and have been doing?”
“Losing a war and satisfying your desire for vengeance, but that’s not what I’m here about, I’m here to try to talk sense into you one last time…”
“Oh here we go. Wisdom from the old shadow once again. Save your breath I’ve heard your fat musings about our situation time and time again. And as I’ve said before nobody is forcing you to stay. Go on back to your hole and hide with your beloved corpse. That is what you’re best at right?”
“Lena, this isn’t about me, this is about YOU and your family, or what remains of it. This battle is lost, you know it and I know. Everyone probably knows it, but they’re still following you out of loyalty and desperation.”
“You know damn well we can’t surrender.”
“I’m not talking about that! I’m saying you need to take Tulla and just get the fuck out of here. You fought the good fight as long you could; you probably crippled Victor’s army and wasted his resources to the point where he’s probably struggling to maintain his holdings in Quala. I mean I think you’re way past even now.”
“Even? Is that supposed to be a joke? Victor kills us and enslaves us all and because he’s suffering from a little manpower shortage we’re supposed be even? What kind of leader would I be if I just abandoned everyone?”
“Fine then, if you really care about the people then talk them into leaving with you. Hell, I even know of an area where everyone could settle down anew. It’s not the friendliest place, but it’s the northern part of Delerg and out of reach from Victor or anyone else desiring to establish a military presence.”
“Since when have you been some protector of the people?”

Now you start to get exasperated.

“Lena, we’ve had this discussion before, but if you insist…I was doing this YEARS before YOU were even a lust filled idea in your parents’ heads! Protector of the people…I’ve probably been doing more than YOU to protect the people of Delerg even now. At least I’m suggesting a way for them to survive, but let’s get serious for a second. You’re right, I don’t care about any of them, I only care about one in particular. Okay two, but you don’t want me to care in that way…you want me to want me to care on a whole other level but the time for has long since past if it was ever a possibility to begin with.”

Lena’s expression, which is usually one of coldness nowadays, begins to crack a little. She turns her head a bit and brushes her hair in an effort to hide possible tears starting to form.

“Look Lena, the first time you explained your reasons for staying to fight five years ago, you managed to convince me because you were right and despite how I knew this was going to play out, it was still a worthy cause. However, I’m right too. There is nothing to be gained by being a martyr or dying a hero, or whatever it is exactly you’re trying to do here. If you don’t care about your own life, at least think of your daughter’s life. You’ve been distant with her ever since she was born, one would think in these times you’d want to spend more time with her not less. Let alone bad mouthing her father who DID spend time with her or leaving her in the company of a complete stranger.”

“I’m not leaving her with a complete stranger, I’m leaving her with you!” Lena says and begins to break down.

“SHE’LL BE SAFE WITH YOU! SHE’LL BE HAPPY WITH YOU!”

Lena collapses in a nearby chair with her head in her hands weeping.

“She’ll…survive with you…(sob)”

You suddenly realize the situation that Lena has placed you in, and you hate her for it. You shake your head in disbelief. Out of all the things that have happened in your life, this has got to be the most unforeseen to your mind. You have no words; you instead just leave Lena to her crying and walk out the front door.

You stand outside the house for a moment as the rain continues to fall just trying to wrap your head around all of this. You don’t even know where to start. Did she always plan this? Was this a last minute decision? Does she just expect you to…

“Hey Uncle Shadow are you and mommy done fighting?” you hear Tulla ask as she comes from around a corner.
“Huh? Where’d you come from? I thought you were upstairs.”
“I was, but I sneaked out while you and mommy were yelling at each other. Sneaked like you do! I wanted to play in the rain. So are you done fighting?”
“Yeah…I think we’re done fighting…” you say looking back at the door.
“That’s good. I didn’t like it when mommy and daddy fighted either.” She says.

With her question answered, Lena’s attention has already been distracted by the rain, which she gleefully plays in by splashing a nearby puddle. She has no idea what the hell is going on and what just happened.

You watch her play for a moment and then call her over.

“Tulla, come here.”
“Yes, uncle?”
“Do you have any items that are special to you?”
“Yes!”
“Well go in and grab them, but ONLY the ones you think are really important. Some clothes too. We’re going on a trip and we won’t be back for a long time.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re uh, going to your uncle shadow’s secret hideout. Nobody will be able to hurt us there.”
“Yay! Is mommy coming too?”
“No…she’s got important stuff to do here. Look, get your belongings and let’s go. I’ll be right here waiting.”

Tulla goes inside and you wait. Doesn’t take long For Tulla to come back out with a small bag of her things.

“I’m ready uncle.”
“You say good bye to your mom?”
“Yes. She was crying and sad when I first went inside, but when I told her I was leaving with you, she looked up at me and smiled a little. She told me that she loved me and to do what you say.”

You nod at Tulla’s explanation of events.

“Are you going in to say goodbye?”
“No, your mother and I have said our goodbyes. Let’s go.”

Your trip back to the temple is surprisingly uneventful. You don’t even need to avoid any patrols. You do take the long way though and go through your alternate entrance. This causes a bit of worry for Tulla since she’s never gone underwater before, but you reassure her that as long as she holds on to you, you won’t let her drown and will hold her up to catch her breath using the air pockets in the underground tunnel. Naturally she believes you can do anything so this immediately alleviates her fears.

Eventually you’re home.

“This place is dark and scary.” Tulla remarks looking around.
“Yeah, but my home, and your home too now. You can stay in this room, it was your mother’s at one time.”
“Wow there are a lot of books in that room!”
“That’s the library.”
“What in there?” Tulla asks and points to the cavern with the garden.
“That’s…a private area. Don’t go in there without permission okay? Even if you talking or faint whispering.”
“A ghost doesn’t live there does it?”
“Heh, well sort of I suppose.” You smirk. “But don’t worry she’s friendly…in fact forget what I said, let’s go into that room right now.”

You enter the garden with Tulla hiding somewhat behind you still nervous about the “ghost.” You point out Talia’s grave to Tulla.

“There she is. She doesn’t speak or anything though. She just listens, mainly to me of course. Her name is Talia.”
“Oh is she like my daddy?” Tulla asks making the connection that Talia isn’t a real ghost and just dead.
“Yes, yes she is, but I still talk to her. Because I still love her.”

Tulla starts to ask another question, but you are in mood to answer any more as its been a long strange day. You tell Tulla to go to her room and dry off and unpack. You then mention you’ll see her shortly. Tulla leaves you alone to be with your beloved. You sit down beside Talia’s grave and think about the strange situation you’re in.

“Well Talia, it probably isn’t exactly how you ever envisioned it, but we have a child now.”
> …
Year 70

As the years go by, you know that day is coming soon that you won’t and shouldn’t keep Tulla sheltered from the surface too much longer. Granted you’ll still be with her when that day comes, but having been to the surface every once in a while to keep apprised of the situation, Delerg still isn’t exactly the friendliest place.

Victor dumped so much into the campaign to conquer Delerg he’s been trying to get the most out of it by rebuilding Sinkhole into a proper town (Calling it Triumph). Apparently he’s also decided to make more plans to develop the area namely by chopping down the jungle to the south and to the east. This has been slow going though especially to the east which you know full well just how hostile the jungle flora and fauna get in that direction. (Oddly he hasn’t decided to expand north which is just as well since he’d probably call for the temple’s ruins to be dug up or built over, or something similar and you’d have to deal with his troops more directly.) As a result of all this redevelopment he’s not only got the pitiful remains of the enslaved Delergites working day and night, but he’s also imported many of his subjects from Quala to do work as well. A lot of these seem to be prisoners of varying types. Some are genuine criminals like murderers and thieves. Most though just couldn’t pay their taxes and it was either this or as a conscript to serve on one of the war fronts that Victor is engaged in with other Quala warlords.

Amusingly you’re no longer on the “wanted list.” An eternal captain by the name of Brom that runs the military garrison in Triumph claims he killed you during the final battle for Delerg. (In fact that’s how he got his current promotion) You’re not exactly sure how he “proved” this, but you’re guessing he just threw a black cloak on some dead body, destroyed the face to the point of recognition and made everything up.

Naturally he brags quite a bit about doing it. You’re not sure what’s funnier, the fact that he’s lying about it, or the fact that he managed to fool everyone into believing his lie (Including Victor, apparently).

In any event, it doesn’t bother you since it makes life easier without some angry warlord trying to hunt you down. Besides you’ve got enough on your mind just looking after Tulla.

“Come on, get your head out of those books, its time for your training.” You say to Tulla.
“But we train all the time! Can’t I just finish this one book?” Tulla whines.
“No! We have to keep to a schedule. Now let’s get to it.”

Tulla puts away her book in defeat and leaves the library to head to the training room. It’s been more of an effort to get her to do her training lately.

“Why do I have to train so hard? You never let me go up to the surface anyway.” Tulla says.
“And you won’t be going up to the surface until I’m confident that you can take care of yourself. I know you think I’m just being mean, but trust me what I’m doing is going to ensure your survival. I won’t always be around, you know.”

Tulla doesn’t reply to your remark she just picks up her wooden sword and gets into the fighting stance you’ve been teaching her. You and her spar for a few moments and fortunately despite her less than enthusiastic desire to be here, she does not slack off and proves to be absorbing everything you’ve been teaching her all these years.

“Good. Glad to see you’re taking this seriously. Now let’s try something new.” You say and change up your style. You tell Tulla to pay attention.

An hour later you and her are taking a break. Though it’s mainly for you. Every damn bone in your body aches and the ravages of time never let you forget that your earlier years of near perpetual combat have taken their toll.

“Are you okay uncle?” Tulla asks in concern.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just old war wounds acting up as usual. We’ll pick up training again in a few minutes.”

While you lay prone recovering, Tulla decides to be inquisitive as usual.

“Uncle, did you train as hard as this when you were my age?” Tulla asks.
“Heh heh…I was trained harder than you at an even younger age.” You chuckle.
“Was it the shadows who trained you so hard?”
“Not at first. It was some sadistic svelk bitch that called herself Mistress. She trained me up until I was twelve, and then I was transferred over to the shadows.”
“Oh. So is that when you learned magic?”
“Yeah I learned it eventually. Never really liked using it though.”
“I would like to use magic like a shadow! I’ve read you could turn yourself in invisible, make yourself really fast or even walk like a spider on a ceiling!”
“Yeah some of it was pretty handy I guess. Haven’t been able to use any in years though.
“Because Dendrin doesn’t like you anymore?”
“Not exactly…but something like that…yes.”

You’ve explained a little bit about Dendrin to Tulla in the past, you don’t think she fully understands all of it, but you do know that she spends a lot of time reading the old tomes about shadow history and such. Which is why she’s been getting increasingly more curious about him and the shadows in general. She probably would like to hear a more personal view of the organization.

A view you don’t even want to get into anytime soon. So you try to change the subject.

“Alright, we’ve rested enough, let’s get back to it.” You say getting off the floor.

Just as you’re about to begin, Tulla makes a statement.

“It’s a shame you and Dendrin don’t get along anymore. If you did, you could teach me shadow magic and it would help me survive better.”

You say nothing and just tell her to focus on defending herself. Tulla complies, but she’s not the one that’s preoccupied, you are. The remark she’s just made is going to be the first step in a long series of questions and problems. You know she’s going to eventually ask why can’t she become a shadow. They already intrigue her the more she reads the books.

What are you going to do? Tell her she can’t read anymore? Put further restrictions on her? The whole point of this is to make her independent and avoid sheltering her.

You dwell on this for the rest of day and until you manage to fall asleep…

Nothing happens. You fully expected Dendrin to visit and give some sort of “sagely” advice and most likely try to convince you to let Tulla become a shadow, but he doesn’t.

Weeks go by while you’re still struggling with this decision and you still get no visit from Dendrin. This is one of the rare times you’d actually wish he’d show up and try to convince you just so you’d have a compass of doing the exact opposite. Of course maybe he doesn’t care. He did say he was bored of the shadows for centuries after all.

In the end this isn’t up to him. This decision is on you. Tulla’s interest in the shadows is only going to increase and you’re going to have to let her find her own way or nip it in the bud now. The problem is despite all your own prejudices against Dendrin and the shadow religion in general, you’d be a complete hypocrite if you didn’t admit that the training did provide you with the means of surviving this long. The shadow magic also helped in that endeavor. Even Tulla made that connection.

Tulla already shows much promise combat wise. If she could cast magic, she’d probably become very powerful indeed.
> You allow Tulla to be a shadow
After some further thinking you realize that its not really your decision either it’s hers. If being a shadow is what she wants to be, then you’re not going to stand in the way.

The next day you approach Tulla about it and she’s noticeably happy about the situation.

“So I’ll get to use magic?” she asks.
“Well that’s part of it I suppose, but if you’re going to pursue this, you’re going to have to train even harder AND you’re going to have to do some of it on your own. I can tell you what I know, but I can’t cast magic anymore so you’ll have to really absorb what you learn in those spell books in the library and keep up on your prayers to Dendrin. Though I’m pretty sure as long as you’re praising him you’ll get your powers.”
“What about the initiation ritual?”
“The what?”
“The initiation ritual. The ritual every shadow has to go through. I’ve read about it and it says it involves opening up a portal to Dendrin’s realm.”
“Oh yeah, that. Well I dunno, I think that’s just a formality.”
“No! I have to connect with Dendrin before I’m able to use the magic and even if I got the ritual right, I can’t open the portal unless I have magic ability to begin with!”
“Okay okay…don’t worry, I’ll think of something.”

Of course that “something” isn’t something that you particularly want to do,

Later that night before you go to sleep, you pray to Dendrin. It isn’t exactly the most pious of prayers, but you figure you’ll at least get a visit this time.

You figure right.

“Well it’s been a long time since you’ve done that. I’m guessing you need something from me.” Dendrin says.
“Yeah and you know what.”
“No I actually don’t, why don’t you tell me, I’d be very interested in what has caused you to pursue such a desperate measure. For you of course.”
“Determined to play this up for all its worth I see. (Sigh) Fine. Tulla wants to be a shadow, but she can’t be one until a portal to the shadow realm can be opened. Is there anyway you can help with that?”
“Are you asking me to give you your magic powers back?”
“I was actually going to ask if you’d grant powers to Tulla. She thinks that she has to go through the initiation ritual in order to gain them.”
“She does. If it were as simple as worshipping me, then everyone would be doing it. So how are you going to open up the portal to my home?”
“Come on you can’t help me out here?”
“I’m sorry, but what do you want me to do? I have no connection with the girl and I can’t just grant her powers! Those are the rules.”
“Alright so can you grant me powers so I can open up the portal then?”
“And why would I want to do that?”
“Because I’ve provided you with years of fucking entertainment that’s why! I mean shit, you can even take ‘em away after I open the damn thing if you want. One would think you of all people would want this anyway, it’s a new follower for you.”
“You presume much Eternal.”
“Yeah I suppose I do. Fine then, don’t help me. I’ll fine some way of helping myself as usual…”
“Hold on, I never said I would help you, but tell me Eternal why do you want this so much? You do realize that once she enters my realm she will undergo a change that will cause her to become a proper devotee correct? In time her faith will only get stronger and your own influence on her will dwindle. I know you care for this little girl, so I’m asking you now are you prepared to make this sacrifice?”

“If it will better ensure her survival, then yes.” You then think about Talia’s own devotion to Dendrin “Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Very well then Eternal, I shall grant you your magic powers temporarily so that you may help Tulla on her first steps to becoming a shadow. Who knows, perhaps you may even realize that I’ve actually been helping you all this time and come back to the fold…”
“I won’t argue and claim that you haven’t given a few good pieces of advice or even genuinely helped me on occasion. But you and I both know that any help you’ve given me, is to help yourself as well as your own twisted fascination with me. I’ll always know that and it’s why I can’t ever worship you as a god.”
“You do realize however, your life could’ve been a lot less painful if you had just complied and paid respect even to a superficial degree?”
“I’m not sure how much more superficial I could’ve gotten. I mean I was practically walking on the unbeliever line at the best of times. After Talia died, what was even the point of that anymore? Besides, I’d say you giving me my powers back now despite my blasphemous ways is a win for me in my book.”
“Ha ha, perhaps, but what of my influence over your daughter?”

Its weird, even though you’ve taken care of Tulla like a daughter you’ve never called her that. Not even in your conversations with Talia. Dendrin’s choice of words you imagine is him trying to make some sort of point, but whatever it is you don’t care.

“What of it? Despite everything I know about you, you’ve never been actively malicious towards me or even your own followers. Apathetic? Inattentive? Yes, but you’ve always done the bare minimum as far as help is concerned which is providing the ability to tap into the shadow realm so that your worshippers can cast spells. I don’t really see you being any more influential than that because it would actually require effort on your part. It’s why you just indoctrinate everyone during the initiation ritual. So Tulla will pray to an uncaring god of a silly religion. Whatever. As long as it helps her survive, I’m fine with your influence. The most you’ll do is take away the magic if Tulla ever overcomes the indoctrination and stops worshipping, which I don’t see happening. Not even Talia’s love for me overcame it.”

There’s a brief silence followed by a low chuckle.

“You’re lucky I’ve always liked you Eternal. Tell your daughter that I will be looking forward to seeing her soon.”

You wake up and the first thing you do is try to cloak yourself. It takes a little effort, but it works. You then try to speed yourself up and that works as well. You decide to spare your endurance on anymore tests and head to the library. Unsurprisingly you see Tulla there reading by candlelight.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were up. I was just reading up on some of the old shadow masters.”
“”What you should be doing is reading up on one of those spell books rather than history. I’ll be preparing to open the portal to Dendrin’s realm after I study up on the spell first.”
“You…you are? But how? Your magic…”
“Its back, Dendrin has seen fit to bless me with the ability again if only to help you. He also says he’s looking foreword to seeing you.”
“He is? I don’t know what to say! I mean this is an opportunity I’ve wanted for a while now.”
“I know you have, so you better get yourself prepared because as I’ve already said, this will be a big commitment. When you go through that portal, you will be changed. You will think differently due to your connection to Dendrin. You may even dislike me afterwards…”
“Oh that’s silly! Why would I dislike you? You’re the one who saved me from certain death and has trained me for all these years. You’re the one who is making this all possible and for that I shall always be grateful to you.”

You see the sincerity in her eyes and the brightness in her smile when she says that. You can only hope that she retains that feeling.

The next few days you spend reading over the initiation ritual. You remember reading about it before during your “hermit” years, never thought you’d actually ever be casting it though.

Finally the day comes and you open up the portal much in the same way Master Ebon opened it up for you so long ago. It’s funny; Master Ebon actually tried to talk you out of entering the portal. Claimed you didn’t have the right mindset to be a shadow. Of course at the time, you had no idea what he was really talking about. You just saw it as an insult that you weren’t worthy enough and you just went in anyway disregarding orders just to prove you were worthy. That decision probably changed your life forever just like this will change Tulla forever, though in a different way.

The shimmering portal to Dendrin’s realm fades in and out of existence and you watch Tulla approach.

“Are you ready for this?” you ask her.
“I am uncle.” She replies
“Then enter the portal.”

After a quick hug, Tulla composes herself and enters the portal. You watch and begin to wait for her return.
>
Year 75

“Well the liberation of Delerg seems to be going better this time around, Triumph has been seized. Let’s hope when Tulla wins this war, it’ll stay free of petty dictators once and for all.” You say to Talia.

Tulla’s been succeeding in her goal nearly as soon as she put her mind to it, which wasn’t long after her shadow initiation. Tulla managed to recruit people even easier than her mother did, you guess she inherited her charisma in that way. Of course it helped that the people from Quala forced to live in Delerg weren’t very happy with Victor for a long time anyway. Not to mention all the criminal types that had been brought here to work off their sentences as well as the outright slaves. Delerg pretty much became a breeding ground of recruits. What was surprising is that Tulla managed to not only recruit them into a rebellion, but also got some interested into becoming shadows. That’s mainly where your help came in. You provided your home as the training ground along with performing the initiation ritual for said recruits. With their help you even managed to rebuild the temple a bit, though you still tend to keep to your underground sanctuary.

It’s odd though, this new generation of shadows don’t seem quite as fanatical as the ones you were familiar with. They revere Dendrin of course, but they don’t regard someone like you with hostility. You remember you were shocked when Tulla first came back from the portal and you found that she treated you with the same respect that she always had despite your attitude towards Dendrin. At first you figured that maybe your previous influence over her had been so great that it over came Dendrin’s indoctrination, but its obvious now that Dendrin hasn’t been doing the old routine of indoctrinating the shadows with mindless loyalty anymore.

You’d ask him about it, but he hasn’t been speaking to you lately. Besides, you’d rather not jinx a good thing. It’s enough that you’ve still got your magic to a small degree.

“Just wish I could be of more help to her. Damn old body. I hate this weakness. I used to be so quick and strong.” You continue to say to Talia. You haven’t had a chance to speak with her like this in a while so you’re taking advantage of your sudden clearing of responsibility.

“You ever think we could’ve actually won a sound victory against the Empire? I’ve been thinking about it, and I think we could’ve. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so proud and just never told you and Cyrus the truth about Dendrin. It might’ve kept us more united. Certainly would’ve help when I fought Kane practically all by myself. Remember that? What a battle! I was probably at my peak and I still couldn’t get the advantage over that tough bastard. I was really happy to see you when you showed up and not just because you saved my life either, though it played a big part of it at the time.”

You suddenly stop reminiscing because your statement has now made you think about how you didn’t manage to save her life. After all these years, you wonder why you continue to do this to yourself and why you can’t move on. You can only guess its because what Talia once said. You’re Eternals and you had a special bond that nobody else did.

There must be some truth to it, Brenda was the ruler of the Nalin Empire for decades and she never married or even took another lover after her beloved Roldan died during the Empire War. Last news you heard of her was that she committed suicide a couple years ago and her second in command Tarna took power. You guess the absence of her mate for so many years was just ultimately too much for her to bother going on. You wonder if it hadn’t been for your encounter with Lena and later your relationship with Tulla if you would’ve eventually done the same thing. Probably not in the same way, but still…

It also makes you realize how many people you’ve outlived in general. If you were anyone else you probably would’ve been dead several times over already. You’re not just the last of the true Eternals, but as the second generation has been murdering each other out of existence, you might very well end up being the last one period.

“Survival Talia, I always was good at it.” You say patting the earth near the grave.

You suddenly hear Tulla calling for you.

“Yes, Tulla I’m in here.”

Tulla stands near the entrance of the cavern with a large black book in her hand. She knows when you’re speaking with Talia, she prefers not to disturb you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were busy.” She asks.
“It’s fine, I was finished anyway. What is it? The liberation of Delerg is going well I trust?”
“Oh yes. Victor’s troops have been pushed back to the borders. Actually there are reports that he’s suffering strife in his territory in Quala as well.”
“Not surprising. Most of those so-called eternals have little grasp on how to rule effectively. As soon as a crack forms their little dominions start folding like a house of cards. Look at Warden Matron Brenda. She ran the Nalin Empire for what, about thirty some odd years? She kept it stable and those second generation eternals never dared to attack her.”
“I’m surprised to hear you praise her. Didn’t you fight against her in the old Empire war?”
“Not directly, but it doesn’t matter. I can at least respect her even if she was on the other side. Who knows? Maybe if things had been different, we may have fought on the same side. Bah, I’m rambling nonsense, what was it that you needed?”
“Oh, this book.” Tulla says and hands it to you.

You glance through it and then close it.

“Yes, what about it?”
“Do you know what it is? I can’t really make any sense of the rest of it and most of it is in a language I don’t even understand.”
“Oh yeah, I vaguely remember this book now. I tried reading it once during my hermit days, but I put it back pretty quickly and never looked at it again until just now. It holds a spell called the ritual of ascension.”
“Ritual of ascension? Sounds pretty impressive.”
“I suppose it does. It was supposedly passed down from Dendrin himself to the first Shadow Master. It wasn’t really clear what it does exactly except that it would strengthen the shadows link to Dendrin’s realm forever. I guess that means it would make the shadows more powerful. Dunno though. Seems weird that no Shadow Master ever tried to use it. Maybe it was more of a symbolic thing.”
“Maybe…but maybe now is the time to try it!”
“I doubt if you need this spell to win the war with Victor.”
“No, but a chance to bring ourselves closer to Dendrin? Why shouldn’t we jump at such a chance?”
“Eh...I think you’re asking the wrong person, Tulla.”
“I know, but I’m so busy with coordinating the war effort, I just don’t have time to study this book like I would’ve been able to in the old days. I mean I suppose I could wait until after the war is won, but who knows how long that will be exactly? And there’s never a guarantee on survival.”
“Don’t say that.” You remark.
“You know better than anyone that life can be cut short in a blink of an eye.”
“Hmm, I also know that sometime life can just go on and on and on…” you say causing Tulla to laugh.

“Alright, I’ll study this book again, I’ve got the time after all. You just be careful out there.” You say.

Tulla thanks you and after a couple more brief exchanges she’s on her way again, leaving you alone.

“Well Talia, I said I wanted to help more, guess I better get to it.”

You spend the next few days reading over the book. You thought you weren’t going to have any better luck than you did decades ago, but actually you understand it a little better now. You can even figure out some of the unfamiliar language. The problem though is you’re still not getting a good feeling about the ritual.

It’s still vague on what exactly will happen, but the shadows would be linked with Dendrin’s realm not just in a spiritual sense, but also in a very real physical sense. The shadows essentially would become REAL shadows. Incorporeal and no longer susceptible to the weaknesses that most beings suffer. At least that’s what you think it means.

Worshipping Dendrin is one thing, but becoming some sort of a wisp? An intangible being with real no sense of self? You can’t imagine wanting to transform yourself in such a manner regardless of the benefits. However you wouldn’t be involved, it would be Tulla and the rest of her shadows and they may be more willing to jump at the chance. True they aren’t the fanatics like the old shadows, but one never can tell.

You even attempt to pray to Dendrin, just so you can ask him more about this ritual, but you have no luck. You’re on your own in this and you’re only left with a couple choices. You could just destroy the book and solve the problem that way or you can tell Tulla the truth about the spell and let her make her own decision.
> You destroy the book
You’re not taking any chances, this ritual doesn’t feel right to you and you’re not going to let Tulla put herself in any more danger in the name of Dendrin. You put the book to the flame. You half expected it to be invulnerable or something similar, but it burns fairly quickly and easily.

You wonder if you should think up a lie to tell Tulla. Maybe tell her that you lost the book or something, but you can’t lie to her. Besides, you’re fairly certain she wouldn’t believe you anyway. You’re just going to have to deal with her getting angry with you.

Unfortunately you don’t expect her to get quite as angry as she does.

“You destroyed the book?! What’s wrong with you?! That was obviously a sacred book with a sacred ritual to Dendrin and the shadows! I trusted you!” Tulla yells.
“I’m sorry Tulla, but that ritual didn’t feel right. Not in my heart. I couldn’t let you perform it and something bad happening to you.”
“But that wasn’t your call! That was mine!”
“Tulla, I know you’re a shadow and a dedicated follower of Dendrin and all that, but you really don’t know what a manipulative uncaring and unfeeling bastard he is. I know! I’ve been speaking with him for decades!”
“Yes, I’ve heard all this countless times. And just because your relationship with him wasn’t positive, it doesn’t give you the right to dictate MY relationship with him!”

You can’t contain your own anger at how Tulla is reacting to you just trying to look out for her.

“What fucking relationship? Does he even speak to you? Does he? No! He doesn’t! You know why? Because he doesn’t give a shit about you! And the sooner you learn that fact, the better off you’ll be!”
“Dendrin will speak to me when he deems it to be so. In fact maybe he’s not speaking to me because I’m still associating with you.”
“Are you listening to yourself? How can you even say such nonsense?! I’M the one who even got your foot in the door to be a fucking shadow in the first place! I’M the one who’s been training you, and supporting you all these damn years! I’M the one who SAVED your life when you were a little girl! So don’t tell me that your associating with me is some sort of negative!”

Tulla gets quiet and looks at you with a stare you’ve never ever seen her give to you before.

“You know something uncle? You’re right. And I am grateful for everything you did for me up to this point. But I see now that our minds are not the same on this and our paths differ completely. I shall continue to respect you, but I believe our relationship will not be the same after this.”

Tulla takes her leave immediately. You call out to her, but she doesn’t listen. You curse yourself for getting angry like you did, but you still believe you did the right thing.

Days pass and you hear nothing from Tulla. There aren’t any of her shadows coming to the temple for training either. You begin to get concerned so you make a trip to Triumph and start asking questions.

You find out that nothing has happened to Tulla, except that she’s been fighting directly on the front lines. You imagine that she’s probably working out her anger through battle. A bit reckless, but you’ve often turned to battle many times when you were angry so its one way of channeling it you suppose.

Weeks pass into months and eventually into years. Victor has been driven out completely, yet you hear nothing from Tulla in all that time. You don’t hear anything from any shadow or Dendrin for that matter, not that you don’t mind his silence, but its like everyone has abandoned you completely. You learn that Triumph has been renamed New Gloom and a new shadow temple is in the process of being built there. When you attempt to find out more about Tulla, other shadows barely speak with you and only say that Tulla cannot be bothered as she has important business as Shadow Mistress.

Naturally you become outraged that you’re not being allowed to see her and despite your best efforts you are only beaten by shadows for your troubles. If only you much younger and they weren’t hiding behind their shadow magic.

As you drag your bloodied body out of New Gloom it is at that moment you realize that Tulla has not and will not forgive you for what you did. You feel a great sorrow that you haven’t felt since Talia died. You return home that day and go to the only one who has continued to stand by your side for decades.

“Talia… I have tried to do the right thing whenever I could, but everyone I’ve ever cared about has either died or in this last case pushed me away. There is no longer a place for me in this world. I come to join you at last and put aside this life time of anguish once and for all.”

You lie down beside Talia’s grave and thrust your blade into yourself.


Year 75

“Well the liberation of Delerg seems to be going better this time around, Triumph has been seized. Let’s hope when Tulla wins this war, it’ll stay free of petty dictators once and for all.” You say to Talia.

Tulla’s been succeeding in her goal nearly as soon as she put her mind to it, which wasn’t long after her shadow initiation. Tulla managed to recruit people even easier than her mother did, you guess she inherited her charisma in that way. Of course it helped that the people from Quala forced to live in Delerg weren’t very happy with Victor for a long time anyway. Not to mention all the criminal types that had been brought here to work off their sentences as well as the outright slaves. Delerg pretty much became a breeding ground of recruits. What was surprising is that Tulla managed to not only recruit them into a rebellion, but also got some interested into becoming shadows. That’s mainly where your help came in. You provided your home as the training ground along with performing the initiation ritual for said recruits. With their help you even managed to rebuild the temple a bit, though you still tend to keep to your underground sanctuary.

It’s odd though, this new generation of shadows don’t seem quite as fanatical as the ones you were familiar with. They revere Dendrin of course, but they don’t regard someone like you with hostility. You remember you were shocked when Tulla first came back from the portal and you found that she treated you with the same respect that she always had despite your attitude towards Dendrin. At first you figured that maybe your previous influence over her had been so great that it over came Dendrin’s indoctrination, but its obvious now that Dendrin hasn’t been doing the old routine of indoctrinating the shadows with mindless loyalty anymore.

You’d ask him about it, but he hasn’t been speaking to you lately. Besides, you’d rather not jinx a good thing. It’s enough that you’ve still got your magic to a small degree.

“Just wish I could be of more help to her. Damn old body. I hate this weakness. I used to be so quick and strong.” You continue to say to Talia. You haven’t had a chance to speak with her like this in a while so you’re taking advantage of your sudden clearing of responsibility.

“You ever think we could’ve actually won a sound victory against the Empire? I’ve been thinking about it, and I think we could’ve. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so proud and just never told you and Cyrus the truth about Dendrin. It might’ve kept us more united. Certainly would’ve help when I fought Kane practically all by myself. Remember that? What a battle! I was probably at my peak and I still couldn’t get the advantage over that tough bastard. I was really happy to see you when you showed up and not just because you saved my life either, though it played a big part of it at the time.”

You suddenly stop reminiscing because your statement has now made you think about how you didn’t manage to save her life. After all these years, you wonder why you continue to do this to yourself and why you can’t move on. You can only guess its because what Talia once said. You’re Eternals and you had a special bond that nobody else did.

There must be some truth to it, Brenda was the ruler of the Nalin Empire for decades and she never married or even took another lover after her beloved Roldan died during the Empire War. Last news you heard of her was that she committed suicide a couple years ago and her second in command Tarna took power. You guess the absence of her mate for so many years was just ultimately too much for her to bother going on. You wonder if it hadn’t been for your encounter with Lena and later your relationship with Tulla if you would’ve eventually done the same thing. Probably not in the same way, but still…

It also makes you realize how many people you’ve outlived in general. If you were anyone else you probably would’ve been dead several times over already. You’re not just the last of the true Eternals, but as the second generation has been murdering each other out of existence, you might very well end up being the last one period.

“Survival Talia, I always was good at it.” You say patting the earth near the grave.

You suddenly hear Tulla calling for you.

“Yes, Tulla I’m in here.”

Tulla stands near the entrance of the cavern with a large black book in her hand. She knows when you’re speaking with Talia, she prefers not to disturb you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize you were busy.” She asks.
“It’s fine, I was finished anyway. What is it? The liberation of Delerg is going well I trust?”
“Oh yes. Victor’s troops have been pushed back to the borders. Actually there are reports that he’s suffering strife in his territory in Quala as well.”
“Not surprising. Most of those so-called eternals have little grasp on how to rule effectively. As soon as a crack forms their little dominions start folding like a house of cards. Look at Warden Matron Brenda. She ran the Nalin Empire for what, about thirty some odd years? She kept it stable and those second generation eternals never dared to attack her.”
“I’m surprised to hear you praise her. Didn’t you fight against her in the old Empire war?”
“Not directly, but it doesn’t matter. I can at least respect her even if she was on the other side. Who knows? Maybe if things had been different, we may have fought on the same side. Bah, I’m rambling nonsense, what was it that you needed?”
“Oh, this book.” Tulla says and hands it to you.

You glance through it and then close it.

“Yes, what about it?”
“Do you know what it is? I can’t really make any sense of the rest of it and most of it is in a language I don’t even understand.”
“Oh yeah, I vaguely remember this book now. I tried reading it once during my hermit days, but I put it back pretty quickly and never looked at it again until just now. It holds a spell called the ritual of ascension.”
“Ritual of ascension? Sounds pretty impressive.”
“I suppose it does. It was supposedly passed down from Dendrin himself to the first Shadow Master. It wasn’t really clear what it does exactly except that it would strengthen the shadows link to Dendrin’s realm forever. I guess that means it would make the shadows more powerful. Dunno though. Seems weird that no Shadow Master ever tried to use it. Maybe it was more of a symbolic thing.”
“Maybe…but maybe now is the time to try it!”
“I doubt if you need this spell to win the war with Victor.”
“No, but a chance to bring ourselves closer to Dendrin? Why shouldn’t we jump at such a chance?”
“Eh...I think you’re asking the wrong person, Tulla.”
“I know, but I’m so busy with coordinating the war effort, I just don’t have time to study this book like I would’ve been able to in the old days. I mean I suppose I could wait until after the war is won, but who knows how long that will be exactly? And there’s never a guarantee on survival.”
“Don’t say that.” You remark.
“You know better than anyone that life can be cut short in a blink of an eye.”
“Hmm, I also know that sometime life can just go on and on and on…” you say causing Tulla to laugh.

“Alright, I’ll study this book again, I’ve got the time after all. You just be careful out there.” You say.

Tulla thanks you and after a couple more brief exchanges she’s on her way again, leaving you alone.

“Well Talia, I said I wanted to help more, guess I better get to it.”

You spend the next few days reading over the book. You thought you weren’t going to have any better luck than you did decades ago, but actually you understand it a little better now. You can even figure out some of the unfamiliar language. The problem though is you’re still not getting a good feeling about the ritual.

It’s still vague on what exactly will happen, but the shadows would be linked with Dendrin’s realm not just in a spiritual sense, but also in a very real physical sense. The shadows essentially would become REAL shadows. Incorporeal and no longer susceptible to the weaknesses that most beings suffer. At least that’s what you think it means.

Worshipping Dendrin is one thing, but becoming some sort of a wisp? An intangible being with real no sense of self? You can’t imagine wanting to transform yourself in such a manner regardless of the benefits. However you wouldn’t be involved, it would be Tulla and the rest of her shadows and they may be more willing to jump at the chance. True they aren’t the fanatics like the old shadows, but one never can tell.

You even attempt to pray to Dendrin, just so you can ask him more about this ritual, but you have no luck. You’re on your own in this and you’re only left with a couple choices. You could just destroy the book and solve the problem that way or you can tell Tulla the truth about the spell and let her make her own decision.
> You tell the truth
You believe you’d probably be better off destroying the book, but this isn’t about you. Once again it’s about Tulla. You allowed Tulla to make her own decision on becoming a shadow; you’ll allow her to make this decision on her own as well.

Doesn’t mean you can’t try to sway her against it though.

A week passes and Tulla returns for a visit and asks you what you’ve learned about the ritual. You explain to her what is involved and what you think the result is after it is completed. She’s intrigued, which makes you a little worried.

“Tulla, I know you might not want to hear this and you’ll probably think that I’m just displaying my own prejudices against Dendrin, but I don’t think going through with this ritual is a good idea.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“Because you’d be giving up you so much. I mean do you really want to be a real shadow that does nothing but serve Dendrin? I mean I know you’re happy serving him now, but you still have the chance to walk away if you should ever change your mind later. This ritual would be a one-way trip. And who knows what it will do to you exactly.”
“It could be nothing like what you’re worrying about then.” Tulla points out.
“Yes, or it could be something even worse than what I’m worrying about. (Sigh) I dunno Tulla, I mean it is ultimately your decision, but I do not believe performing this ritual is a good idea and I worry about you. It is supposed to be cast by a Shadow Master anyway. As it stands, this order doesn’t even officially have a Shadow Master. I mean I certainly don’t count, and I don’t know about you, has Dendrin spoken to you?”
“No. Sadly Dendrin has not yet seen fit to speak with me in the same way he does with you.
“Hmm, he hasn’t spoken to me in a long time either. I even tried asking him about the ritual, no luck though.”

Tulla looks at you in silence for a moment.

“Well given that we still need to worry about Victor, I suppose maybe this isn’t the best time to be messing about with unknown spells and rituals especially when we don’t exactly know what they do. Dendrin hasn’t seen fit to tell you and he hasn’t seen fit to speak to me, so perhaps we’re not worthy of performing it anyway. Maybe nobody has, which is why its never been cast. Another day perhaps.” Tulla says.
“Perhaps.” You say causing Tulla to smile a bit and then give you a great big hug. You’re a little surprised at the suddenness of it given the situation.

“Wha…what’s this for?”
“For being so wonderful of course! You obviously had deep concerns about this ritual and worried about me in particular yet you still allowed me to make the decision. You have always allowed me to make my own choices, just like when I wished to become a shadow to begin with. You could’ve easily forbade me to become one, just like you could’ve destroyed the book.”
“Trust me, it did cross my mind on both accounts.”
“But you didn’t, because you encourage me to be my own person.”
“Hmm, some might call that being overly permissive.”
“Well I call it being a supportive father.” Tulla exclaims.

The two of you just look at each other for a moment. The realization that Tulla just acknowledged you as her father takes only a few seconds to sink in.

“And you’re the best I could ever have in a daughter.” You remark trying to not burst into too much emotion and the pair of you embraces tighter as if the pair of you never wants to let the other one go.

Eventually you do though and Tulla gives you a small peck on the cheek before saying she has to get back to the battle for Delerg.

“I can still help directly you know. I could lob a few shadow bolts a peoples’ heads.” you remark.
“I know, but I worry about you as well. Besides, I’ve been having success in getting more people interested in being shadows. They’ll be coming here for brief training and initiation soon. Your skills a better put to use here.”
“Very well, I’ll be here.”

Tulla leaves and you’re soon left alone pondering all of what just happened. While you’re certainly glad you managed to convince Tulla against the ritual today, who knows what will happen in the future. Still, you can’t dwell on the possible doom and gloom of the future. You’ve done that most of your life. Right now you’re little more than happy that you’re no longer just “uncle” to Tulla. She considers you her father just as you’ve considered her your daughter for a long time.

You naturally go to Talia and tell her the news.

“Tulla called me her father today. Didn’t expect it and I have to say I got all choked up about it nearly to the point that I couldn’t reply back. Made me happy. Don’t think I’ve ever been exactly this happy in a long time. I mean I’ve had moments where I wasn’t unhappy, but I’ve haven’t felt this good since, well since before you died.”

You sit down near Talia’s grave and touch the ground.

“I…just wish you were here to experience it.” You say with a few sniffles. You rub your eyes a few times and just sit quietly near the grave until you eventually fall asleep…

“You continue to surprise Eternal. I really thought you’d destroy that book and make it seem like an accident.”
“Just shows you haven’t been paying attention for over sixty years. However, I am in good spirits and I won’t even let this visit from you bring me down.”
“It’s never my intension I assure you. But you aren’t worried about Tulla one day casting the ritual of ascension?”
“Sorry, like I said, I’m not going to dwell on such matters right now. If she does, then so be it. It’ll be her decision to make as usual. Oh and thanks for helping me out on that as usual. You could’ve at least told me what it does.”
“Sorry, but you don’t get that knowledge. It’s something a shadow master just has to know to do when they feel the time is right. Their choice, not my influence. Something you’re encouraging in your daughter right? But if it’ll ease your mind a bit, she’ll never be able to perform it in your life time.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s not a Shadow Master or Mistress in her case and she won’t be until the current one dies.”

You don’t get it at first, but then you do which just raises further confusion.

“Wait…so that means…me? I’M the Shadow Master? Since when?”
“Unofficially since Master Ebon died, though when you were the last one left you were pretty much the only candidate left.”
“Wha…but you never told me!”
“You never asked, plus I doubt if I had told you, it would’ve made much of a difference to your antagonistic mindset.”
“But…this still doesn’t make sense! I strayed so far that I didn’t even have shadow magic ability!”
“Eh, you were still the closest thing to a shadow. Though I’m pleased that a new group will be able to carry on after you. It’s odd, I was bored with the shadows, but I think starting fresh like this has renewed my interest a bit. I think giving them a bit more free will and making them a little less mind numbingly devoted helps with that. Just think when the group starts numbering in the hundreds or thousands, oh the conflicts of doctrine interpretation they’ll have! I can just see the holy wars now! And I suppose I have you to thank for all of it.”

You shake your head at Dendrin’s enthusiasm at his predicted carnage. He hasn’t changed at all, it’s all still just a game to him, but you’re hardly surprised. Still, you doubt if such a thing will happen any time soon and oddly, you are sort of pleased to hear that Tulla can’t perform the ritual even if she tries. Though you do wonder one thing.

“So tell me, did you know all this was going to happen? Did you know that I would eventually bring about a new group of shadows for you to enjoy all over again?”
“Well as I always said, I predicted you making a major change and you did.”
“And that’s that?”
“And that’s that.” Dendrin says. If you could see place a face with this reply, it would definitely be a smug one.

You’re not getting any more information out of Dendrin, he’s back to being his usual cryptic self so you don’t bother trying anymore.

“I shall leave you now Eternal, we will only speak once more to each other in the far future, but for now I give you a much needed rest from my divine discourse. Think of it as your reward for all your service…as a shadow.” Dendrin says with a laugh.

You eventually wake up. You brush the dirt off of yourself and groggily look over at Talia’s grave.

“Well Talia, Dendrin say’s he’s leaving me alone for a long time. I guess you were right, he does eventually answer all prayers.”