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"Let's get this over with." |
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*When you walk in, the note you'd hoped to forget was still pinned threateningly to the table. Aramis is snuffing the tip of his cigarette out on the table when you take a seat across from him. You watch as he reaches into his pocket, pulls out anothercigarette, and lights it. He takes a series of short, punctuated puffs before speaking: "No more of this," he sighs, squaring his shoulders slightly. "No more talking about my past after today. We're going to get this all over with in one shot. Now... where did we leave off? Kissie... I'm tired of that name."
*Aramis leans back in his chair, the cigarette smoke rising and curling around his head like some sort of filthy halo. He runs his fingers through his hair a moment, quickly braiding it behind him, letting the massive scar on his face glow in the dim light of the tavern lamps.*
"I was fifteen when I left Seraphim, but I never told you why. Kymeris Unum ordered my mother's death about a week before I even turned fifteen, and that pushed me into creating Seraphim in the first place. After seven or eight months we were already hundreds strong, a band of misfits hell-bent on taking vencgence on everyone who'd ever wronged us in the past. It had gotten to the point where we did whatever we wanted--we stole, we rampaged, we even killed just for the sake of killing. We were an army of zealous children, too young for reason but old enough to follow orders without question. And on the twenty-first of Kendolaar, we launched a full-out attack on Usugaar Fort, determined to crush the Unums' private army, the Crusaders of Deus. We didn't have a plan for it. Not even Deedra offered to put some sort of structure on what we were going to do. By sunset, Seraphim was just outside of the Usugaar Fort gates. I remember I was on my horse, Harbinger, holding up our makeshift flag, constructed from our own clothes. Our crest was a lion chewing on the head of the late Alaric Unum. I raised it high with pride. 'We have come to destroy all who stand to defend the Unums!' I announced, and a deafening roar of support erupted behind me. Slowly, the gates opened, and the well-formed, generations-long line of faithful Crusaders of Deus lay before us. Our only strategy was that they would stick to their training and try to keep organized. With the random havoc we planned, we'd leave them befuddled. It was our only chance. "
*Aramis takes another puff of his cigarette and continues.*
"We just went into it, headfirst. Before I even realized what was happening, I had my sword thrust deep into an enemy's neck, just barely hitting my mark between his helmet and breastplate. Everywhere around me, there was screaming, clashing metal and death, blood and bile, shredding viscera and plintering bone. Before long, it was night. The fighting had gone on for hours. I watched my army give their lives for my own selfish desires. I'd so wanted to see the Unums destroyed that I sacrificed the lives of the people I'd lived with for nearly a year to see it done. I knew their names. I knew their faces. I knew their dreams and their fears and their hopes for a better futures. And at that moment, all that mattered was that I knew they were all faithful Desuits, that they would be buried in accordance to their faith."
"Suddenly, a lone knight stood before me, mounted on a horse far larger and better trained than mine. I didn't care. The Crusader standing before me was the only thing stopping me from getting to Kymeris."
*Aramis lowers his head a moment and rubs his temples*
"It seemed like forever... But in the end, I had his head two feet away from his body. In a rage, I'd kicked the helmet and out... rolled the head of my father. I don't think I even reacted... I don't think anyone would know how to react to that."
*Aramis takes another long, slow puff on his cigarette before putting it out on the wooden table*
"I didn't say another word," he half-whispers, the smoke curling from his nose and opened mouth like a waking dragon. "I'd simply turned around, in shock, perhaps, and started walking towards the gates of Usugaar Fort. My armor felt heavier than it had ever felt before. My sword dragged behind me lethargically, a sickening, bloodied, swaying line leading from the disembodied head to its offender. I could feel their eyes on me, the eyes of everyone in Seraphim staring at me in disbelief. There I was, their leader, their king, their god, and I was walking out on them. Why? Seraphim had been victorious over the legendary Crusaders of Deus! We could storm the fort and kill Kymeris as he cowered in his room! Why was I leaving? From the corner of my eye, I saw Kissie pushing her way through the crowd of stunned faces. 'Aramis!' she cried. 'Aramis, where are you going?' She made a move to grab my arm, but I violently yanked it away and pushed her aside. I kept walking. Deedra was waiting for me at the entrance of the gate. I kept my eyes downcast. 'Take it,' I half-whispered, referring to Seraphim. 'I'm leaving.' 'Cowards don't make good kings,' Deedra said, putting her cigarette out on my armor. 'I am no king,' I answered. It was the last thing I'd ever said to any member of Seraphim. I walked on into the night, disappearing in the thick crowd of trees in the distance, leaving Seraphim, Teehs, Meenah, and my very identity behind."
*Aramis closes his eyes for a moment, then reopens them.*
"That's it. The end of Seraphim as I knew it. I don't know what happened to them after that. I don't know if they even exist still. I don't know what happened to Magus or Baanji and Moon, or even my mentor, Deedra. I'd began wandering the world, trying to forget the awful things I'd done in Seraphim by commiting far worse crimes, trying to force them into the front of my mind and leaving my father's death to rot into nothingness. I didn't want it anymore, the fame, the power, the ambition. I just wanted to forget. But try as I might, I couldn't forget. My mother... my father... Deedra... Kissie... but most of all, I couldn't forget Kymeris. The b*****d who fueled my desire for revenge in the first place. Right now, I can't do anything about my rage. Right now, I have neither the time nor the means to exact my own brand of justice against him. But one day, I will. I've decided to stop mourning my past and start living in the present. I'll better myself to an extent even I didn't know possible. And when I'm finally ready, I'll take my sword up against Kymeris Unum again. And this time, the blood that stains my sword will be his... All his."
*You watch in silence as Aramis stands up, wincing a little. He stretches, and gives you a smile.*
"When next you return, expect an entirely different man sitting here... Not the melancholy soul you've been accustomed to seeing. As for now, I've got work to do. Goodbye, friend, and good luck."
 Bleeding Apocalypse · Fri Jan 28, 2005 @ 02:54pm · 0 Comments |
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