text: Dendrin can chatter in your ear all he wants it's not going to make you change how you want to live your life. What the hell has he ever done for you?
  
  You the sleep the rest of the night in your bed and most of the day as well. In fact you don't leave the sanctuary for over a month. Eventually you start to get restless again and you go for a walk in the middle of the night.
  
  "I'm leaving Talia, I'll be back soon." You say.
  
  Tromping around through the swamp at night isn't something you normally do since the place is already a breeding ground for biting insects during the day, its even worse at night. The Sul Monkeys are usually a little more active as well. Sometimes they even get vicious if they sense an easy target; fortunately they seem to be scared of you.
  
  As you wander through the night you reminisce about the old days, back when you were in Rask and temporarily separated from Talia. It wasn't an easy time, but you survived it, just like you're surviving without her now.
  
  "Pfft. Dendrin thinks he's so smart. Suggesting that I can't... " you begin to whisper to yourself, but just then your thoughts are interrupted by shrieks and pleas nearby. This is followed by some loud obnoxious voices.
  
  "Go ahead a scream bitch, not like anyone's going to save you!" a voice yells.
  "Hey are you taking your turn?" the second voice asks.
  "Naw, I'm just gonna fuck the boy, seein' as we already beat him unconscious. Less trouble." A third voice replies.
  "Suit yourself." The second voice says.
  
  Great, you wandered in the middle of a sexual assault in progress. What is it with these new eternals and rape? They're always engaging in it like its going out of style. Must be some sort of defect in their minds during their training or something because none of the first generation eternals that you know of were so focused on their genital region. Even Kane, as infamous as he was for his atrocities was never known for rape. Though given some of the other things he did to his enemies, that's not saying much.
  
  You shake your head as the cries, grunts and laughter gets louder and louder. They presumably have all the same natural ability and training the first generation eternals had and this is what they do with it. You turn back to go home.
  
  "SHUT UP BITCH!" you hear followed by a smacking sound.
  "Hah! Teach her to open her mouth when she doesn't have a dick in it."
  
  Your hand tightens around your sword hilt as you stop walking for a moment.
  
  "I'm not getting involved. They don't deserve my help. None of them ever did... " you mutter and take another step.
  
  "Shit! This bitch is tight! She must be a virgin!"
  "So must be her boyfriend's ass!"
  
  You do a complete pivot.
  
  "(Sigh) Damn it... "
  
  You rush towards the sounds of the group and after passing through some tall swamp plants; you find two of the eternals on top of the bodies of their victims. The third one is standing around watching the pair of them, laughing.
  
  He stops laughing when he catches the sight of your blade shining in the moonlight.
  
  "Oh shi... " he utters and you split his head with your sword.
  
  The eternal on top of the girl manages to stop what he's doing long enough to look up, which allows her to give him enough of a shove and crawl away backwards from him.
  
  The other eternal on top of the young man doesn't even bother getting off his victim, instead he makes idle threats.
  
  "Come closer and I'll break this boy's fucking neck!" he shouts and pulls the unconscious young man's head into his arms preparing to twist.
  "He's better off dead anyway at this point." You say.
  
  You hear a bone crack followed by the sound of your sword cleaving the neck of the eternal. He attempts to grab at you while making horrible gurgling noises, but he only manages to falls face first into the muddy ground.
  
  The third eternal at this point has pulled up his pants and drawn his weapon, but given that he hasn't attacked you immediately like he should have, you know that means he's scared. They haven't been challenged in so long, they've forgotten what its like.
  
  You forgot too. You forgot how thrilling combat was. All those old feelings are starting to come back. You're enjoying this.
  
  "Give me a fight." You say.
  
  The eternal attempts to oblige your request, but does a poor job at it. A couple of sword parries and dodges later and you've already opened up a wound in his chest and hacked a deep cut in his leg. He drops his sword and collapses on his ass in the mud.
  
  "Please! Stop! Look, you can have the girl okay? Do whatever you want with her!"
  "How the hell did you idiots ever take over anything? You're not eternals. You're fucking pathetic."
  "And what are hell are you?"
  "I'm a shadow of the past and right now the past is catching up with you."
  
  A little dramatic, but you're having too much fun.
  
  Your line is lost on the eternal anyway who continues to plea like the girl did when he was raping her. You show the same amount of mercy and smack him across the face with your hilt before shoving your sword into his crotch. His voice goes into a high scream and then silent when you finish him off with a couple stomps to his head cracking his skull. Another couple stomps and his body stops breathing.
  
  You look around the area and see the young girl still nearby. In this moonlight you can see she's huddled with her knees up to her body and her arms wrapped around them. She's also completely naked with bruises on one side of her face and partially covered in mud and dirt. She can't be any older than twenty; her dead boyfriend was probably around the same age. She rocks back and forth sobbing.
  
  Even when the physical damage heals, this is event is still going to be a scar in her mind for as long as she lives. You have no reassuring words for her, only advice.
  
  "Go home girl and grow stronger from this experience." You say and leave her to her misery.
  
  You eventually arrive back at the sanctuary and excitedly tell Talia about what happened tonight.
  
  "... yeah, it was something to see. I sort of wondered if I was going to be rusty, but it all came back pretty naturally. Didn't even use any magic. Heh. I... I think I'll be really busy soon. So if I forget to talk to you or anything, its not because I don't love you. I'll just have my mind on other things okay? Okay. I'm glad you understand."
  
  Over the next few days you pick off a few more eternals that you catch unawares in the swamps. Doesn't take Brutus long to start realizing that someone is standing up to him, though from conversations you've eve's dropped on, he isn't entirely sure who it is yet and even thinks it might be the pre-cursor to an invasion. He'll wish that was the case by the time you're through.
  
  The peasants though are still being oppressed as usual. Perhaps even worse than they already were, since the eternals are taking their frustrations out on them, you can't understand why they aren't at least being encouraged by the situation and trying to fight back.
  
  You briefly wonder if you should dispense with your secretive solitary operations and try to get a "rebellion" going again, but you quickly dismiss such ideas. Maybe you're indirectly helping the people, but you're mainly just doing this for your own personal reasons. You're not going to do is try to enlist aid again. Those days are long gone you're not putting up with the headache of them anymore. Someone else can do it if they feel so inclined. You're working fine on your own. You've done it many times in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
  
  Besides if you were successful in starting up a rebellion, then you'd eliminate your targets too quickly. As it stands right now, you're enjoying taking your time. If you wanted to kill them all as fast as possible, you could easily do it.
  
  Over the course of a few months you continue your activities. Brutus starts sending patrols in large groups. He also destroys one of the smaller villages claiming that they know who has been attacking them if not involved in the attacks directly. If something like that doesn't motivate the people nothing will.
  
  As it turns out, it has motivated at least one and when you're spying an eternal patrol camp you aren't surprised to see a familiar smaller figure hiding nearby. She thinks that nobody sees her, and so far she's correct as far as the eternals are concerned, but you see her as clear as day. She hasn't seen you of course due to your cloak.
  
  Looks like she took your advice, but she has no idea what she's doing. Her desire for vengeance is going to get her killed, though maybe she feels like she has no reason to live at this point.
  
  In any event, she's going to get in the way of your own plans, if you don't do something.
  > launch your attack now
  Even as quiet as you are, if you head over to her location, you might miss your best opportunity to attack even if you were waiting for a slightly better opening. Still no point in taking chances, you speed yourself up just give yourself that extra edge.
  
  As your blade sinks into the back of one of the eternals you materialize before the rest of their eyes and they look as if they see a ghost. Their surprise doesn't last long, but it's enough for you to chop down another one before they can put up a decent defense.
  
  "Behind you!" you hear a voice shout and you instinctively duck down and spin around to shoot a bolt at whatever might be behind you. You catch an attacker in the leg with it, but from what you can see a bunch more eternals have arrived to help their buddies. This is why you wanted to wait a moment longer before attacking.
  
  One of the eternals in charge shouts at one of his men to go catch the girl that just shouted a warning to you. At this point running might not be a bad option for yourself. If you had your back against something, you might be better able to fight them, but being surrounded and outnumbered like this isn't the best situation.
  
  You make a break for it, but the eternals are wise enough to not all chase you directly, some instead run along either side of you hoping to head you off. It doesn't help that a few are carrying spears and are fairly proficient at throwing them.
  
  You cloak yourself and climb up a tree, which helps lose them. They continue to search the area where they last saw you. Eventually they give up and argue with each other about losing you.
  
  You wait about an hour in the tree before you decide its safe to come down. You head back to the sanctuary cursing your unpreparedness. That speed spell also took it out of you. You feel more drained than you have in a long time; it's almost like the old days when you were complete crap at casting magic. You're guessing your long detachment from Dendrin has made your shadow magic even weaker. At least you can still cloak without too many problems it seems.
  
  Eventually you get back home only to see a visitor waiting for you. It's the girl and she's sitting on a pile of rubble near your secret entrance. Now that you can see her in a better light, she's much different looking from the wailing waif you last saw. She stinks of the swamp like she's been living in it for days. Her face is healed up with a few minor scars, but her eyes display a stare that could be matched by some battle weary warriors. You're actually a little surprised to see her since it implies that she knew where you lived, meaning she's sneakier than you thought.
  
  "Nobody followed me. I lost my pursuer."
  "Did you kill him?"
  "No."
  "Then how the hell do you know you really lost him? Maybe he let you get away, just to follow you at his leisure. What the hell were you doing out there, you know damn well you're no match for those guys."
  "Neither are you it seems."
  "I would've been had I waited a little longer to gather all the information instead of jumping into battle like an idiot."
  "So why'd you jump in like an idiot?"
  "Because I saw you and you were already a factor I didn't need to deal with if you decided to jump in like an idiot. So I did it instead, hoping that was all of them. Apparently not. Still, got a few of them I guess. There's always tomorrow. Now if you don't mind, I'm going inside and I don't need you knowing exactly where the entrance is even if you already knew where I lived."
  
  The girl doesn't move.
  
  "So basically what you're saying is you risked your life to prevent me from getting hurt."
  "No, I told you why I did it. Don't read into something that isn't there, now I suggest you do what I told you to do last time and go home."
  "I can't considering they destroyed my village not long ago. Completely."
  
  You exhale deeply since you heard about that, but of course you had no idea she was from there.
  
  "So that was your village? Was it random, or did they know you were there for the... first attack?"
  "I think they knew. They didn't know exactly what had happened or who was there, but they guessed someone in the village knew something. Some in the village knew what I told them, like my family, Aaron's family, and close neighbors, but nobody gave me up. I sort of wished they did, they'd all be alive right now."
  "If you felt that way, why not turn yourself in?"
  "Because I was scared? Because I didn't want to die? Because I'd somehow beaten the odds and endured something I shouldn't have?"
  "Because you wanted to survive." You say.
  "Yes, because I wanted to survive. Just like I wanted to survive when they started lining up everyone to more efficiently butcher them. I managed to run. I left my mother, my father, my little brother, my friends. I left them ALL behind. I didn't try to save them Maybe I could've I don't think so, but I didn't even try. All I wanted to do is survive. And that's what I've been doing ever since, living in the swamp attempting to survive and plot revenge."
  "Hmm, well you've got the survival bit down at least. So were you the only survivor from your village?"
  "I dunno, I think some others ran. Don't know what happened to them though. So when are we going to attack again?"
  "I'M going to get some rest and I'll attack again when I feel like it. YOU I don't know what you're going to do, but I suggest you go find some place to hide where those bastards can't find you. Now leave. I'm not going to ask nicely again."
  
  The girl hops down from her sitting spot.
  
  "No, I'm not going anywhere. YOU saved me. Twice. Which means right now you're the closest thing I have to a friend and friends help each other out. Besides, I did warn you about that guy going to attack you. Surely that warrants me at least some place to stay. I won't get in the way. I know how to take care of myself. I know I can do a lot more than I used to... "
  "Look this isn't some shelter for lost girls! This is my damn home! I don't owe you shit! Now get the fuck outta here!" you yell and stand directly in front of her, but she's unmoved.
  "You're going to have to fucking kill me then!" she shouts back in your face.
  
  At this point you're more worried about your voices attracting attention. You feel like knocking her out, but that would only be a temporary solution and despite being a fairly ruthless killer, you're not going to oblige her alternative.
  
  You push her out of the way and open up your entrance. She's probably a little amazed that she was so close to it and didn't realize it.
  
  "Well? Don't just stand there with a dumb look on your face; get inside before we attract the attention of something other than Sul Monkeys." You say and motion her inside.
  
  "What's your name anyway?"
  "Lena."
  
  Dendrin's going to have a field day with this and you've got nobody to blame but yourself.
  > time passes...
  Year 46
  
  "Think the girl will survive your big attack plan?" Dendrin asks.
  "If she does, she does. If she doesn't, well that's the way it goes." You reply.
  "You don't mean that. You're just trying to play tough. I know better."
  "Well if you know better why do you insist on asking stupid questions?"
  "Tradition?"
  "Hah... okay I'll admit that one was a little amusing."
  "Glad to see you're in a better mood nowadays, but I imagine having someone to converse back and forth with on a regular basis might be helping. I told you, that you couldn't go on with your life as it was and I was right! And you say I don't look out for you."
  "Yeah, that must be why you've seen fit to deprive me of nearly all my magic abilities."
  "You're not a believer. I can't give to someone who has no faith. Sorry, but I don't make the rules. Besides, you were never a magic lover anyway."
  "Perhaps not, but I found it useful in certain situations. Doesn't matter, I've been making due... I suppose it has made me adapt, and kept me from relying on a crutch."
  "Well if that's your way of saying thanks, I guess I'll take it. Good luck tomorrow."
  
  You wake up.
  
  Today is the day, after months of carrying out a personal guerrilla war on Brutus' gang (you refuse to acknowledge such rabble as any sort of "army") you've managed to whittle it down to a manageable size to the point where he's had Sinkhole barricaded. You're not sure why considering its not going to stop you, but if the fool actually thinks building a shaky wooden wall and locking himself in his house is actually going to save him, so be it.
  
  While you get ready, Lena's already set to go. You think she's been anxious for this day more than you have.
  
  Lena has been helping you and for her part she's done an adequate job. She's taken to training well, though that's probably because she doesn't have much left anymore. You've had to pull her fat out of the fire on more than one occasion, but you expected you would when you first agreed to have her help you.
  
  And at least she's helping you. That's more than can be said about anyone else! Despite all the damage you've done to their oppressors, your actions have not inspired others to take up arms against what's left of the eternals. You can't say you're surprised though. Lena on more than one occasion has travelled to a few of the swamp villages in the hopes of getting help, but no luck. You told her it was a waste of time, but she had to learn on her own your suppose.
  
  You probably never show it and you'd certainly never admit it, but you do respect Lena and don't mind her company. Though there's still another whose company you prefer. (And that that isn't Dendrin)
  
  "I'm going now. I'll be back later to tell you all about it." You tell Talia before you leave.
  
  You and Lena make your way to Sinkhole. Along the way Lena makes her usual snappy comments. It's one of her less endearing qualities.
  
  "So you couldn't get Talia to help us for this one?"
  "Well maybe if I'd been a believer in Dendrin, he would've seen fit to raise her from the dead or something, but seeing as he's as much of an asshole as you're being right now, no I couldn't get Talia's help. Maybe next time." You reply.
  "I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have said that, I... "
  "Forget it. You're nervous just like you are whenever we go into battle and you're deflecting as usual. Just save those witty remarks for combat. Seems to work on those wannabe eternals who get flustered over the smallest taunts."
  
  Sinkhole's rickety wall doesn't quite extend all the way around the town, but its enough that there's no way to easily go around it without either wading through the deep marsh water or just barging through the front gate. If you still had your magic, you'd just scale the wall with the spider walk spell, but you don't have that luxury anymore. Chopping or kicking through the wall would probably take time and attract attention. You'd like to at least catch the enemy a little off guard.
  
  So you decide to do the classic "pincer maneuver."
  
  "Lena, you sneak around through the marsh where there is no wall and enter Sinkhole that way."
  "Wait, where are you going to be?"
  "I'm going through the main gate of course. They'll be focusing on me so much that you'll probably be able to take down several of Brutus' men before some of them converge on your position."
  "Are you going to be all right?"
  "We've worked together for months now and you have to ask me that? Don't worry about me, I've faced worse. A lot worse. Now Brutus will probably be hold up in that big house of his. Don't try to enter it until I get there since the place will probably be trapped."
  "What if I see him outside?"
  "I doubt it since the coward seems determined to throw everyone under his command at us while he hides. In the off chance you do see him, he'll probably be trying to escape so by all means try to stop him in that case. Now let's get going."
  
  As you and Lena part company you know there's a fifty fifty chance Lena is going to disregard everything you've said and try to enter Brutus' home and try to kill him herself. You're going have to be quick if you want to beat her there.
  
  Predictably several eternals guard the front gate and when you appear before them, the alarm is raised and they attack. If they're lucky, they might actually last more than a five minutes against you... 
  
  Four minutes later you've already fought your way through the main gate. You see several more eternals standing in the road with weapons drawn, but they look unsure to as whether or not to attack you or run away. Surprisingly one speaks up, he's a short man with brown hair wearing leather armor. He's very average looking and not at all anything like what the second generation eternals are supposed to be which are great hulking warrior types.
  
  "Hold for a moment! I would speak with you. There is no need for animosity."
  "What, you trying to stall for time and set up an amubush? Not likely, let's get on with this!" you reply and advance.
  
  He and the two other eternals standing behind him all back away while still attempting to hold a defensive position.
  
  "Wait just a moment, damn it! There are not enough of us left to set up a fucking ambush! We're all that's left, besides Brutus barricaded in his house. I mean we already know you could kill us all within seconds, is it really going to hurt to hear what I have to say?"
  "Alright, make it quick."
  "Okay, we're giving up. I mean just let us get the hell out of here and we'll never enter this damn swamp ever again. This ain't worth it and I certainly ain't dying for Brutus."
  "What makes you think I'd let you go?"
  "Look I know who you are. You're not just some crazy ass old shadow; you're also an eternal. A first gen. Oh yes, I heard stories about you in the old days and unlike most of my kind, I took them seriously. I also remember because I was assigned here when you were still causing trouble for the old Empire. Everyone thought you died when we collapsed the temple on you, but when our boys started getting picked off over the last year, I had a feeling who it might be. I tried to warn Brutus that we should just leave, but the fool wouldn't listen.
  "Hmm, too bad you weren't smart enough to leave yourself."
  "Well, Brutus may be a fool, but he's still my friend."
  "Friends? Didn't know you second gens, had the concept of it... but he's so much of a friend, that you're ready to abandon him now?"
  "I don't like it, but if I have to chose between loyalty to my friend and survival, survival is going to win."
  "While this is all very interesting, you still haven't answered my question, why the hell should I let you go?"
  "Because I talked Brutus out of destroying this entire town and the rest of the little villages in this swamp? Did you know when you started murdering us, his first order was to wage systematic genocide on the people of Delerg? Granted he still wiped out a few villages completely, but I managed to save lives because even I thought that was going too far. Other did too, I was just the only one brave enough to tell him in a way that showed it wouldn't be wise to do it."
  "So that makes you a good guy?"
  "No, I didn't say it makes me a good guy, I'm just saying that my deeds at least should be taken into consideration. I mean... fuck... you've killed a lot of us and you'll likely kill Brutus as well. Isn't that enough? We're no threat to you and we're not going to come back to launch some sort of sneak attack. You can have free reign of this place, I'd rather just put this shithole far behind me. You'll never see us again."
  
  This guy might not be playing for time to have more of his buddies ambush you, but he's still taken up more than enough and there's no indication of Lena showing up who probably would've attacked them by now. Since she hasn't that can only mean she's decided to take on Brutus himself, which means she's probably going to get herself killed if you don't reach the house soon.
  > take care of the eternals first
  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.
  > join Lena
  Lena will probably go whether you do or not so you might as well go with her to keep her safer. You can also continue training her which can only help in her survival. You also enjoy Lena's company too and your spirits haven't been remotely this high for a long time.
  
  "Slow down girl, we'll get to them eventually. They aren't going anywhere. Right now we should take a break before planning our next attack."
  
  Lena nods and says that maybe you're right and that you should take a break. The pair of you takes your leave of Sinkhole and head back home as the peasants start to slowly fill the streets again.
  
  When you get back home, Lena is definitely in a much better mood.
  
  "It felt so good killing all those bastards! I think I'm only just realizing just exactly how good though!" she says followed by a triumphant yell of victory.
  "Well you should be proud of what you managed to accomplish. It was a great victory and I'm proud of you too."
  
  Lena smiles at your remark and hugs you again.
  
  "Oh I would've never done it without your help! You've been so good and helpful to me! We'll go on to more victories against those eternal bastards, I just know it!"
  
  Lena's body against yours so good to you right now. You feel closer to her than ever and not just in a physical way. During your embrace both of your eyes meet and it doesn't take long before your lips follow along with other parts of your body.
  
  Later while she's asleep beside you, you walk into the garden feeling somewhat guilty for your actions.
  
  "I... uh... I'm home. I meant to tell you sooner, but I... (sigh)... " you begin to say to Talia's grave.
  
  It takes you a while to even muster up courage to speak again.
  
  "Talia, I'm sorry... but as much as I tried to fight them I have feelings for Lena. She's a brave girl. She has that same fighting spirit. You know, like you did... "
  
  You take the silence that follows as accusatory.
  
  "No! I'm not replacing you! I just... NO! She won't die like you did! I'll make sure she's safe! That's why I'm going to look out and be with her! Look I can't morn you forever! Why won't you just let me move on? I have to move on right?! Wouldn't you want me to do that?!"
  
  The further silence just makes you run out of the garden and into one of the other rooms. You begin to curse and sob at your situation. You know it's completely irrational, but you don't understand why you can't move on.
  
  After you compose yourself, you head back to your room where Lena is still happily sleeping. Fortunately despite your rather loud outbursts, she hasn't stirred at all. When you get back into bed she instinctively cuddles next to you.
  
  "Where'd you go?" she asks sleepily.
  "Uh... just thought I heard a weird noise. It was nothing." You remark.
  "Oh." She replies and drifts back to sleep.
  
  You on the other hand are practically up for the rest of the night trying to put a ghost to rest once and for all. You manage to succeed, but you still don't feel good about it. Hopefully in time, you'll be able to live with it, but in order to do that, you're going to have to leave this place and not come back. There are just too many memories here.
  
  Year 50
  
  Lena wanted to take the fight to the eternals, and she's really been sticking to that promise.
  
  In the beginning you were mainly targeting eternal soldiers and such. This naturally drew the ire of whatever local warlord that had established dominance there. This wasn't a problem since you mostly just moved on to another location in Quala.
  
  The problem was you weren't just fighting eternals now, you were fighting the multitudes of human followers said eternal warlords have under their command. Given that you were only two people, you were more than a little outnumbered. Also while Lena may be better skilled than she was, but she still does not have the capability to assassinate a battle hardened eternal warlord commanding said armies. You probably might have had better luck, if you were younger and still had access to your shadow magic, as it stands though, you've lost that ability completely now. It would seem that Dendrin's link to you has practically been broken at this point, though he has still spoken to you from time to time. Mostly to tell you that your actions are a pathetic attempt to live in the past and you're just following around Lena like a glorified bodyguard. This has lead to the usual predictable arguments. Dendrin must've gotten tired of arguing with you though since he hasn't been speaking with you in quite some time, which suits you just fine.
  
  Eventually, Lena once again attempted to stir up the local populations in the hopes of getting some more help, she was a little more successful this time, but nobody has ever lasted very long. They either they quit for various reasons after the first few missions, or they get themselves killed. The ones that do stick around are mostly criminal types who enjoy the violence along with the looting on the side.
  
  All of this pretty much means Lena's the leader of a group of bandits masquerading around as "freedom fighters." You and Lena are now wanted in several territories in Quala. Even a few eternal rulers have declared temporary truce just so they can send joint forces against you. Svelk mercs have also been hired to hunt you down. While you've been generally supportive of Lena's misguided quest for vengeance, you haven't always thought its necessarily the wisest thing to pursue. Your last raid on a small encampment got half of the gang killed and Lena wounded to the point where she's going to be in no condition to go on another until she heals.
  
  Right now you're siting beside her bandaged body while she rests. You wonder if you shouldn't at least try to talk a little sense into her. Its getting to the point where you believe your luck is going to run out eventually and while you're enjoying fighting side by side with her, part of you would like to pull back a bit. If only to ensure your survival so you can actually enjoy her company a lot longer.
  
  Just as you've completed pondering this situation, Lena starts stirring from her sleep.
  
  "Did we win?" she asks.
  "Yes, but it was at a high cost. I told you we should've prepared longer. And you shouldn't have charged into battle like that."
  "Doesn't matter, as long as we got that bastard."
  "You do realize that the sergeant was the only eternal in the platoon right? The rest were just regular humans."
  "So? If they take orders from an eternal and do their bidding, they're just as bad. You know that better than anyone."
  
  There it is again. Her blind need for vengeance as usual. You're beginning to think she cares more about that, than she does you.
  > talk to Lena about quitting
  "Lena, you've been getting more reckless lately, and I'm starting to get concerned."
  "What? These wounds? I'll heal. And I don't even need to wait that long anyway, I could be up and around before then."
  "If you didn't pick a fight every chance you get, and actually took time to step back for a moment, you'd probably suffer less cuts and bruises. And while I know the group we hang around with are a bunch of low life scum for the most part, we still can't afford to lose them like we've been doing. Especially when the risk is starting to severely outweigh the potential rewards."
  "Well, maybe its time we get some new people to help. Try to find some disgruntled peasant or something again."
  
  You shake your head.
  
  "Lena, you're not hearing me. I'm saying maybe its time to quit while you're ahead. I mean what are we even doing anymore?"
  "We're fighting against injustice and tyranny! I thought that's what you used to do!"
  "Yeah, that's what I USED to do. What I'm doing now I'm not so sure. Lena, you're letting your desire for vengeance overwhelm you. You're not thinking straight. You shoot down all my ideas when it comes to sound strategies. I mean lately you've just been throwing cautious right out the window."
  "And you always played it cautious, when fighting the Empire?"
  "Y'know what? YES. Yes I did whenever it was possible, y'know why? Because they fucking outnumbered us in everyway that's why! And despite the fact that I taught you how to fight, you are NOT me. You will NEVER be me. You passion for vengeance brought on by your unfortunate experiences, will never replace the rush I get when I get into a battle which always gives me an edge. And let me tell you something else. As good as I am, I can't always be everywhere so that I can save you just in time."
  "Well who the hell is asking you to save me?!" Lena says with a displeased look on her face.
  "Someone needs to save you, because you sure as hell haven't been of clear mind to maintain your self-preservation anymore! Lena look, I know you'd like nothing more than to personally kill every eternal you could get your hands on, but it's not going to happen. Even if you could, it won't change what has already happened."
  
  You hold on to Lena's hand.
  
  "Lena, I'm asking you for me, stop this now, before it completely consumes you. Are your feelings for vengeance stronger than your feelings for me?"
  
  You look into Lena's eyes and her previous expression of displeasure turns to one of avoidance. She tries to speak, but stops. Sensing that she needs to respond, she gives you an answer.
  
  "You, you know I love you."
  "Yes, I'm sure you do, but you will not avoid my question so easily."
  "I'm not... I... I... just... "
  
  At this point, you close your eyes and sigh deeply.
  
  "It's okay Lena. It's okay. This was probably my own damn fault anyway. Good luck." You say and kiss her on the head before attempting to leave.
  "Wait! Where are you going?!"
  "I can't stay with you Lena. You're on a path to self-destruction that I can't follow. I did that already with Talia and her dedication to Dendrin. Now that I think about it, this whole thing has been me trying to relive my own past by being with you. Trying to rekindle the same spark I had with Talia. I can't even lie to myself about it anymore. Anyway I'm rambling now, so I bid you goodbye and I hope you eventually see that you don't need to follow the path you're on."
  
  You exit the tent with the Lena still calling for you, but you just keep walking. You notice you aren't the only one leaving. You see some of the thugs packing up their stuff and heading off to greener pastures no doubt. Maybe with less people to help, Lena will be less likely to mount foolish attacks. At least you hope she has that much sense.
  
  As for you, you realize that if you're going to live in the past, you're going to do it the right way.
  
  You travel back to Delerg. Back to the temple. Back home. The place is the same, its like you never left. You enter the garden... 
  
  "I'm home Talia. I'm home and I shouldn't have left. I see that now. I can only hope you can forgive me. Can you forgive me?"
  
  You approach Talia's grave.
  
  "Yes. Yes of course you forgive me. Just like I forgave you. We... we were always meant to be together." You say closing your eyes and unsheathing your blade.
  
  "I should've done this a long time ago." You say and thrust your blade into yourself.
  
  You fall beside Talia's grave as your life force drains out. Your last thoughts are peaceful ones.