Vengeance (Pt. 6)

Vengeance (Pt. 6)

The mountain peaks passed below them like a sea of white-tipped waves, the wind roaring in Renee’s ears. Vengeance had not spoken since they had retrieved Octavius’ fury. She had swum to the surface of the sea, and rather than then heading towards land, had continued her upward trajectory, carrying them into the night sky. Once she had pierced the clouds, she had changed course, sailing over them in the bright moonlight.

Suddenly, Vengeance’s voice entered Renee’s mind.

See that away to our right?

She moved Renee’s hand, pointing at a mountain with split peaks.

“I do,” said Renee.

That is Drake’Shar. They say that is where the Elven Empire fell, and where the gods gave rise to their greatest servants.

“Is it true?”

Does it matter? Stories have more power than you would believe. Even should those things have not happened truly, it is that people believe the stories that makes them real. They also say that it is on Drake’Shar that the walls between the worlds of the living and the dead are weakest.

“Is that also just a story?”

Vengeance was silent for quite a while. Renee gazed down through the clouds, watching the mountains shrink into foothills, then into plains that stretched out like a great green and brown blanket across the world. Finally, Vengeance spoke again.

How do you think I came into the world?

Renee felt a chill. It made sense that Vengeance had crossed to here from somewhere else. She had heard plenty of stories of demons and spirits as a child, and they had always been said to have come from some other world. Perhaps Vengeance was like them. Perhaps she was a…

I am no demon. Demons are foul creatures that take hold of your soul, corrupting it and turning you in to something as vile as them. I have not changed you, nor touched your soul. Your soul called out to me, touched me, and brought me to you in my hour of need.

Renee hissed, “But I do not want you here.”

Your soul called to me, and your heart sealed the bargain. I gave you your greatest desire, and now I may use you as a vessel to attain what I desire most.

“Which is?”

Drake’Shar was vanishing over the horizon, shrinking away into the faint glow of the rising sun. With that light, Renee was able to get her bearings, and realised that they were travelling north, making the mountains below the Shadowspines, and the gap in them Manoran’s Pass.

Renee could feel that Vengeance would not answer her question, so she changed tack.

“Where are we going?”

To one of the oldest places in the world. A place of magic, of jealousy, and of treachery.

“I do not know of this place.”

You wouldn’t, small-minded creature that you are. You were content in your little world by the sea, trapped in the monotony of life. You might have wondered about distant horizons as a child, but soon you suffocated that dream by living as others wished you to. You were told that girls grew into wives and mothers, not women, and you believed what you were told. I gave you your heart’s desire, but now you realise that what you desired was a cage, a promise of monotony, labour, and pain.

Renee’s stomach twisted. Something in Vengeance’s words rang true at a deep level. A forgotten memory stirred; dreams of travelling, of seeing all the wonders of the world.

I am right, and you cannot deny can you, child? You know that you once dreamed, and that you let that dream die. It is why you fell in love with a sailor, a man who was away, travelling the world as often as he was home. Your dream could at least have a ghost through him, while you sat in your tiny room, thinking of him; where he was, what he was doing, what he was seeing.

Renee’s heart sank as a new realisation dawned. Vengeance seemed to sense that, and latched on to it.

You do not love him, Renee. You love what he represents: a dream you have lost, and a life you cannot have. His life is what you love, not him. Tell me, what about him do you love?

“He is kind.”

You can find a kind man anywhere.

“He is gentle.”

Hardly a rarity.

“He loves me.”

Many men would love a woman like you, or at the least profess to. You are gifted with everything a man will desire.

“Doran loves me for more than that. If you think so little of love, then clearly you have never felt it.”

Oh, but I have child, I know how love feels, and how it burns and crushes you. I know how all love ends.

For a moment Renee was taken aback, and she almost felt sympathetic towards Vengeance. Then she hissed, “So the love you felt wasn’t true, wasn’t pure, and so you hate all love because you did not have the truest love.”

You know nothing of me.

“You have said enough for me to know that you are jaded, and have been jilted before. Is that why you now are fuelled only by hate, and rage?”

Vengeance was silent. Renee’s mind drifted, thinking about all that Vengeance had said. Her stomach churned, and she felt lost. Part of her felt that Vengeance spoke true, but much of her still longed to be in Doran’s arms again, to hear his deep voice again, even to see him sail into port again.

Something sparkled on the horizon, like a star resting upon the world. As they approached it resolved itself into a cluster of shining lights, reflected by the dark waters around them.

“What is that?” asked Renee.

Illeth Moran.