"Choice"

Written by
Niteskie

hat had I done? I turned, walking away from the jeering crowd.

Jealous, all of them. Jealous of the gifts I have received. The thoughts burned through me like ebon fire.

“Traitor!”

“Fallen one!”

“How could you turn your back on your God?”

The shouts barely registered, so many emotions coursed through my mind. I needed to leave this rabble, to sort my thoughts and try to come to terms with what had happened.

“Hilsay-miran-oto.” The words flowed from my mouth as they had ten thousand times before. A brief aura shrouded me and I was off, faster than the onlookers could follow.

.

Why? Why had I drunk the blood?

I didn’t know. Perhaps it had been his presence, his majesty. Memories of my childhood among the woodland elves cascaded through my mind. I remembered running beneath the gigantic trees near Kelethin. Playing and mock fighting my many friends.

My dream. I remembered my dream to become a historian. To record an unbiased history of the lands I grew up in.

No longer. Mayong’s vampiric blood now ached within me.

I’m a historian, neutral in all things.

I laughed. I could not fool myself into believing that. Perhaps this was my path, what my heart truly wanted. I had helped the Dark Lord Mayong Mistmoore; helped him without hesitation. His servant, Lord Galendore, had commanded me to seek out the dwarf Kivgor. Why did I accept so easily, knowing I was not acting with neutrality?

The answer was simple, of course. The intensity of the moment; being called by name as I had. It was an opportunity I could not have passed up. We all make choices.

I looked around at my humble little home, wondering what would become of me. People knew. The rumors would run rampant throughout the world. Some true, others ridiculously false.

His blood. I could still taste it on my lips, copper and fire.

He will call upon me; command me to do things. I dared not think what these errands might be.

Then it stuck me.

Pain. Burning, searing unimaginable pain engulfed me.

I fell to the floor of my small home, clutching at my infuriated body. I screamed.

I have no idea how long the fit lasted, how long I lay screaming on dirt floor of my cottage.

A part of me died that night. Died with the pain.

Do I regret? Never, for I am Aludian… Aludian of Mistmoore.

Aludian stands fearlessly before the gates of Castle Mistmoore on the Stormhammer server.