Prologue: In the Beginning an End.
The man fell to the ground, his daggers clattered free of his nerveless hands. Above him, her beautiful blue eye stared down at him, but where there was once friendship and caring now there was only scorn and pity.
He tried to explain. Maker, they had to understand, they had to. He had done only what was expected of him it was his duty. Yet all of that seemed to be an empty purse now.
He was dying.
Not that that really mattered so much, in truth he had died twenty years ago.
His friends were upon him now, their eyes staring into his from new bodies. Eyes of honey brown and eyes of sky blue, they went through his pockets taking anything of value that they could use in the battle ahead. He did not blame them. They did not even look at him. To them he was already dead. He clung to life with every fiber of his being, but soon even that would not be enough.
He had never met their children before. In a better place, they may have seen him as an uncle, or at the very least someone to teach them the things they needed to know about the world. He would have enjoyed that, to pass his secrets on to another generation. Obligation and duty had prevented him from ever finding a family of his own. He regretted that for the first time. He wished he could have had his friends back, to see their love grow, and watch over their children
He had thrown away that right years ago.
The darkness closed in on him now. From far away he could hear voices, the clash of steel, and the crackle of magic. The battle had begun.
He wondered if they would have forgiven him. Could he have stood before them a penitent sinner, and begged them to grant him absolution for what he had done all those years ago. He had betrayed a man who had never shown him anything but kindness.
What kind of friend was he?
Fire and ice lick at his failing body, the sound of a dog barking, the twang of a bow, and the mocking laughter of a monster.
This battle was a long time coming. For twenty eight years he had to live with the choices he had made. Now they had returned to haunt him. The sins of the Father visited on the children.
He was finally fading away, but in that last moment, what had come before returned with crystal clarity. His friends, their enemies, his mistakes, in the last few moments of his life it all became clear.
The dying man remembered.