text: [Themes: fantasy]
  
  During all of the fun times you and Alessa spent in the man's cabin, neither one of you asked why he was there. The thought certainly crossed your mind, but you and Alessa entered into a bliss of sorts. You were afraid to ruin the friendly relationship you had with the man by getting on his bad side. After all, (well, at least in your experience) adults tended to anger quickly when questioned too often.
  
  Thus you and Alessa enjoyed a period of unadulterated happiness...that you were sure was going to end today. As you grew older you began to question the man and his purpose even more. You mentioned it to Alessa, and while she was slow to agree, she eventually came around. She must have finally thought about the situation from someone else's perspective. Anyone else would have the guard chase down this stranger. Worst case scenario, the man could turn out to be some kind of serial killer. You doubted that he was, but there was always the possibility.
  
  You hoped for the best, but feared the worst. That's most of the reason you carried the sword at your waist even though your Holy Order training was already over for the day.
  
  The cabin came into your field of vision, and nostalgia cascaded over you. You stopped walking, and Alessa turned back to gaze at you. "Are you ready? We don't really have to do this if you don't want to." Her voice was muddled with nervousness, and concern.
  
  You could tell that she was hoping you'd turn back, and that you two could hang out without having to worry. You almost agreed with her, but you decided to do this. You were going to follow through with it.
  
  Some moments are seared in people's memories forever. Every one of your senses seemed to be extra sensitive. The sun was shining brightly through the trees above casting light that made you squint your eyes. Alessa stood half turned back to you with a question in her eyes. She was obviously waiting for you to continue moving. You look to the cabin ahead, and all of the warmth that you felt in the past dwindled away. In its place were ominous feelings of forbidding, but you gathered your courage and approached the cabin.
  
  Alessa knocks on the door, and you only have to wait a few moments before a muffled voice calls you inside.
  
  If the outside of the cabin looked ominous, the inside was a picture of abnormality. Something was wrong. You could tell it from the moment you stepped into the cabin. You didn't need the door slamming shut behind you, or the crazed look in the man's eyes to tell you that much. He sat in a chair against the wall on opposite side of the room. His wild brown hair was even more disorganized than usual. It fell across his face as he looked at the floor.
  
  A silent moment passed and the man began to speak. "I know why you're here. I knew this day would come, but I didn't want to believe it." That part was directed at you and Alessa, but the part that followed seemed more like a crazed man's mutterings. And he never seemed crazed before.
  
  "I wish I didn't have have to do this. I was content. Happy even. We were almost like a family. I felt needed, and not abused. Not like the people who use my name for evil purposes..." His mutterings continue, but you've had enough. Enough of being here, that is. While you were prepared to deal with bad reactions, frankly you didn't think it would be this bad. You were getting really creeped out, and a quick glance at Alessa told you you weren't the only one.
  
  You reached back to try the knob, but it didn't turn. You put more force into it, but still nothing. The man doesn't react, so you lose all pretenses of sneaking out. You throw your shoulder into the door, and it doesn't even quiver. Just as you begin to pull your sword from its sheathe, the man finally speaks to you two again.
  
  "I'm sorry, but this has to be done. Alessa, Erron I hope you'll forgive me." He begins walking towards you two, and you decide that you don't want to know why he's sorry. You go ballistic and start hacking at the door, but after the first few swings you realize that it's not going to work. There was something otherworldly going on here and it was preventing you from leaving. Instead you turn back around and hold your sword the way you were taught.
  
  The man nears the both of you, and you take the time to shout to Alessa, "Get behind me!" When you don't hear an immediate shuffling of feet, you turn and see her frozen with fear. At the same time you notice the man walking towards her instead of you.
  
  You figure that somewhere inside each man there is a primitive instinct that overrides all self control. That instinct sends you rushing between the disaster that was surely about to occur. A couple things happen at once. Without your meaning to, your sword strikes the man's outstretched hand. And your body hits Alessa onto the ground behind you. Before you can check to see if Alessa is okay you notice the cut on the man's hand bleeding. But not just bleeding. Bleeding gold.
  
  You barely have time to send up a prayer to the Creator before he speaks again. This time he seems to have some semblance of intelligence instead of his ranting. "Alessa would have made a better choice I think, but I guess you'll do fine. I'll let you carry the blame for what's to come next." The man takes a deep breath and holds his hands out in front of him. This time that instinct doesn't come just in time. Your frozen in place, but to your surprise he doesn't touch you, or kill you or anything of the sort.
  
  Instead, two lights appear. With his palms facing up to the ceiling a bright white light appears in his right hand. A dark black light appears in his left hand. They both glimmer and shine alluringly, but for different reasons. You feel yourself drawn to the dark light, because of an eerie feeling of power. A power that you feel could bring you anything you ever wanted. The white light gives you a feeling of happiness. The power to endure and make it through anything that could ever come in your way. The power to obtain versus the power endure. You're enthralled.
  
  "Now. Choose. Will you take this blessing," he moves his right hand forward, "or this curse?" He moves his left hand forward to punctuate the question.
  
  You barely hear what he's saying, and you don't really get what he's saying about that dark light being a curse. How could it be a curse when it offers you so much power. Then again, the white light offers you security. You feel that you could protect anything, and get through everything that dared challenge you. You think of Alessa at that, whom is still sitting on the floor behind you dumbfounded.
  
  You know you don't really have much of a choice here. Who knows what the man would do if you were to refuse? You have to choose one.
  
  > say "The 'Curse.' "
  "Curse." You whisper the words, and immediately the dark light flies from the man's hand and into you. You don't feel any different at first, but as the seconds go by you feel yourself getting really tired. The fatigue spreads throughout your body and you know that at any moment you may pass out. The feeling reminds you of a story your dad once told you about him treading water for hours at a time. He said afterwards that he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever, but he would continue for as long as he could.
  
  You sympathize with that thought as your body and mind betray you to their tiredness. When you finally feel as if you could not hold on any longer, you collapse to the floor beside Alessa. The last thing you see is the bright light, the blessing, flying from the man and into Alessa, and the man's face; a picture of sadness.
  
  You wake up hours later in the cabin. You peel your face of of the wooden floor and groggily rub your eyes. It takes you a moment to remember what happened, but when you do you leap to your feet confused. There isn't a single thing out of place in the cabin. You look all around for evidence of what you could've sworn happened here only moments ago, but you find nothing. Even your sword is back inside your sheathe. Nothing was amiss. Perhaps it was all a dream, you think relieved.
  
  With a sigh and a shrug you brush the dust off of your clothes and open the cabin door. You remember the struggle you had with the man moments before, and you laugh to yourself. Leave it to your subconscious to turn one of your favorite people into a scary curse giving man with emotional problems. Although... you do wonder why Alessa isn't with you. You were supposed to meet with her in this cabin after all.
  
  Your don't think to much of it, for you finally realize the time. In the distance the sun begins to dip down into the gray blue clouds. It was sundown, the time time your parents require you to be home. You immediately break into a jog. You Father could be quite strict when it came to you. If he caught you coming back late, then he would surely punish you.
  
  You jog into a relatively silent castle, although you hear sounds of eating and merriment coming from the main dining hall. As if to punctuate the point, your stomach rumbles in anticipation for dinner. Thankfully you only have to go up one staircase on the way to your room. You're careful to look through each hallway before entering in order to avoid a potential disaster with your dad, so in not too long you come to a solid oak door. Engraved on the wall beside it reads the name, 'Lucentia,' your family name. Without wasting any time you throw the door open and slam the door shut behind you.
  
  "Erron? What are you doing back so late?" You turn around to see your Father seated on at your desk with a grave look on his face. His deep authoritative voice is riddled with anxiety and subtle undertones of sadness. Something your dad rarely displays.
  
  You begin to mumble an excuse about knight training, but your Father interrupts you. "Never mind that. I need you to pack your things. We're going away for a while." The persona of a strong confident man your Father usually portrayed was gone.
  
  When you don't respond immediately, he raises his voice. "Quickly now. We must be going!"
  
  You don't question him and immediately begin to pack your travel bags with necessities. You're at it for a couple minutes when you realize your Father had no bags with him. "Did you already have your bags packed? you ask curiously. Any information you could glean from him would be useful.
  
  He looks around for a moment confused. "I must've forgotten to grab them. I'll be back, son. Stay here and pack. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes then go find Morden." He rushes out of the room leaving you even more confused than when you woke up in the cabin.
  
  You shrug and obey him. Even at his worst he still knows more than you do.
  
  It doesn't take you long to pack, and soon enough you're left waiting on your bed. A few long moments later you begin to hear shuffling outside, and shouting. You try to ignore it, but it soon grows to a point where you can't ignore it very well. That, and you're starting to get curious. The royal guards don't usually act so panicked, so maybe you should check it out.
  
  > sate your curiosity
  Tossing your fathers wishes out the window, you crack the door open. If you come back in five minutes, then that should leave you plenty of time to find out what's going on.
  
  You walk out of the door and into the stone walled hallways. You listen for a moment, then follow the sounds of shouting. As you near the source, other sounds enter the mix. The sounds of swords ringing and armor being torn fill your ears, and before you can turn yourself back you walk into the scene of the noise. Bodies of the knights of the Holy Order llitter the hallway floor. Royal guards stand amidst the corpses, while others drive their swords through the fallen bodies. Some dark liquid covers the cobblestone floor, and that same liquid is splattered across the walls. Blood.
  
  The thought sickens you and you begin to retch despite not having had dinner yet. The sound draws some attention, and as you bring your head up from the ground your eyes meets with a dying Knight on the floor not to far from you. That knight mouths the word "Run," just before his eyes lose the life in them.
  
  Before you can really react to that you hear someone yell, "There's the Assassin's son! Get him!" You look up to find every royal guard with their eyes trained on you. Your instincts take over and you begin to run back the way you came. The sounds of metal boots hitting the floor echo throughout the hall behind you. Fear courses throughout your body, and you run faster than you ever have before.
  
  However, it's not enough. After only a few moments of running you hear a voice behind you yell, "I've got him!" You're only left wondering what he means for a moment, for right afterwards a javelin pierces your shoulder. The force of it doesn't kill you, but it certainly sends you toppling to the floor. The pain is horrible, but luckily you don't have to endure it for long. A royal guard comes up moments later to finish the job.