A Voice Left in the Void

These are the last 4 page of the Monument of Remembrance

Page 01
In memory of Grette,

Silent-hearted, dragonforged. With hair of gold and will of tempered steel.

You ransomed me from a village burnt to Ash—instilled life, and fight. Dearest mentor, I commend you now to rest eternal.

Your servant, bereft of master and memory, I keep now at my side. She lives on, your mirror in soul and body both, and I will not lose her as we have lost you.

This I swear before your empty grave.

Page 02
Now, choose. Stand against me, or speak your wish.

Offer your beloved in forfeit, and I shall see your will done.

Choose? How am I to choose?

No matter my answer, the price is death. A hollow choice… Who am I to stand as arbiter of two lives? …Of two loves. What would you have me do? You brought me here. You… If this be the will of the gods… the order of the world… Then damn the lot of them! I’ll tear the whole of it asunder!

Very well… If that be your wish, I shall claim my price.

Stop! NOOOOOO!

Page 03
“You have been chosen.” So saying, the wyrm prised the heart from my breast,

I was made Arisen: known to the dragon, and bound to hunt it. It is a fate I embrace. What use have I for a heart left hollow?

In a world without sweet Grette—my mentor, my mother, my beloved…

I live only to see the dragon that claimed her slain. I will see its scaly hide stripped from bone by my hands ere I rest

Page 04
…Arisen. Bearer of the dragon’s mark. Undying corpse, enjoined to make your will manifest.

If my voice reaches you, heed me well.

The Arisen, the Seneschal, the whole cursed world… All is but an illusion.

A meaningless refrain. A hollow echo… What sense is there in giving one’s life for these falsehoods?

I damn them all.

And I will not cease in my destruction until the last senseless cycle is broken, the last bond rest to dust.