“Why have you brought me here?” she turned to him after he brought her to the hilltop this night.

“To show you this,” sweeping his arm and stepping aside to show a view of the town below.

The town was ablaze, the flames rising high into the night sky.

“W-what have you done?” the shock clearly heard in her voice, “Tell me! Why?”

“Vengeance,” looking at her out of the corner of her eye, “I did this all for you.”

Taking a step back, she turned to face him, “Have you gone completely mad?!”

“Now why do you say such hurtful things?” he smiled, facing her, turning his back upon the inferno, “It was THEY who hurt you, it was THEY who left you to your fate, not caring whether you lived or died, THEY deserved this. THEY deserved this fate that I bestowed upon them!”

“I never asked this of you! I never asked you to do anything!”

“I know…” the fires behind him only served to make his smile appear sinister, “but that does not mean I should stand by and do nothing, especially when it was within my power to do so.”

“Just leave me alone! Go away!”

“What’s…” reaching out his hand to caress her face, “wrong?”

“Don’t touch me!!!” there was an edge of hysteria in her voice as she recoiled from him, “Don’t touch me, ever again. Everything you touch, meets its ruination. I do not wish to be pushed further down that road than you’ve already placed me, Rynan.”

“I don’t understand, my love,” taking a step back., “why have you changed so? What was the extent of their judgement?”

Tears started to slide down her face as she looked around, fear was in her voice, “Please, go. Ruination and chaos will surely show thanks to your presence here. Please, my lovely Rynan, leave… You cannot remain here any longer. If you do, the outcome will not be favorable, for either of us.”

“Why can’t you go with me? We can surely get out of here, just as easily as I’ve made it in here. Come, take my hand. We will go somewhere, away from all this.”

Taking out his outstretched hand, she stood up. “Where shall we go?”

“We shall go-“

“How about nowhere?” the voice called out from the small distance behind him “Well, thank you for being so obliging and saving me the trouble of finding you Rynan.”

Clutching her hand tightly, Rynan turned around, his heart sank by what he saw.

“Why the shocked expression, can’t give a proper greeting to an old friend, a battle-brother?”

Anger seethed out in the words through his clenched teeth, “You arranged this? You did this to her? Why the betrayal?”

“Because it must be done. This is how it must be played out, brother…”

Sitting on his perch of a boulder, he overlooked the river, knees drawn up, arms wrapped around. His blade, sheathed resting against his shoulder, pommel up, he looked at it cursiously out of the corner of his eye.

‘Have we… come full circle?’

A splash, draws his attention back to the waters.
His mind began to wander back to those forgotten times, before all… this.

“I knew I’d find you here, waiting for her.” The solemn voice pulled him from his reverie with brief alarm.

Looking up at his old friend, he smiled and slowly rose, weapon in hand.

“I knew there was something amiss the last time we spoke my friend. I just didn’t think I’d be speaking to a spectre”

Letting out a long sigh, “Well, it was time brother.”

Shaking his head, “We’ve already lost Old Herla and so many others… Plus, there was a betrayal-“

“So I’ve heard,” his friend’s voice grave as he looked down at the water below, “You’re the last that remains of us.”

Shaking his head, “That can’t be, Hellekin.”

A sad smile creased its way across his face, “I am gone now, dear brother,” he places a hand on his shoulder, “Eventhough I can no longer be reached in your waking moments, like so many of those lost, I can be reached in-between the times you are awake.”

Meeting his friend’s eyes, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, brother.”

Kneeling down, he scooped her up in his arms and stood.

“Where will you go?” came the voice from behind.

“Away,” he looked down at her face, recalling the time it was filled with a vibrancy, “from all this.”

“There’s nowhere left to go my friend…”

“I have no friends anymore” he whispered too softly.

“Look around you! This is your doing! Do you think they’ll just let you walk?! Disappear?!”

He turned his head towards him, “They shouldn’t worry anymore, my magic is undone. I am undone.”

“Well, they will! A price has to be paid… You’ve yet to pay that price,” Motioning towards her, “don’t you recall her warnings?”

“Enough blood has been spilled on this matter, they-“

“They are about balances, or have you forgotten that in this life as well?!”

“No, I have not.”