Fable II

Game Moment

Sacrifices on the Tower

Blade couldn't move. She was frozen to the spot. All around her, her friend's had disappeared, one by one. She had watched them all enveloped by the light, the shock on their faces the desperation to stay and fear of the unknown.

Lucian had ruined it all. He had disrupted the ritual and taken her friends, and here he stood now in front of Blade atop the tower in the centre of the lake. He pointed a pistol at her, that malicious smile on his face as he watched her and waited for the moment when he would, at last, take her life.

He had ruined it all. First it had started with Blade's sister, Rose. The pair had believed his lies and come into his study only to discover they were a part of a plot darker and more twisted than they could have imagined. Rose had been shot and killed, and Blade had almost followed. But instead she had risen again from so close to the grave to find revenge. But he had continued to take. His minions killed people Blade knew and cared for, and he had brainwashed hundreds of men along with herself to do his bidding. She had dealt with his tortures as best she could and managed to escape, but no matter how much she thwarted his plans, he always came back to punish her again for surviving.

Now she was moments from dying, her heroic blood, as he said, pouring out. He would end the bloodline, and there was nothing she could do. She was a hero, yes, but she was human, and she was facing the end of a gun with no way of killing him before he killed her.

All of the fantasies she had of extracting her revenge burst into flames in her mind, ucurling and twisting until all that remained was a pile of burning ashes. Her sister's face swam into view.

Rose's little Sparrow had failed.

The gun fired with a deafening sound, but the bullet never hit. Something appeared in front of Blade as she tensed and prepared herself for the pain and the darkness. She didn't know what it was, but it was solid, and it took the bullet for her.

But... it couldn't be.

A yelp made her worst fear realised and her heart lurched in her chest. She could barely bring herself to look as her dog, her best friend and most loyal companion hit the stones beside her and lay still. It didn't whine in pain or look at her with those brown eyes for the last time.

It didn't get the chance.

"Pitiful creature," Lucien said heartlessly, hoisting his gun back as he came closer. "Misguided, weak. The last time I killed you, it tore my heart out." He aimed the gun at Blade again. There was no-one to save her now. She was going to die this time.

"Of course, you were only a child," Lucien continued, his eyes bright in the darknes,s face pale, hair stark, and face twisted with evil. "But then, so was I."

He fired the shot. Blade didn't even feel the bullet. All she could think about was her friends, and how much they had sacrificed for her.

Now she was dead, and it was all for nothing.

She would have no second chances.

But as the darkness swallowed her, she heard a familiar voice.

"Death is not your destiny."