The Living and the Dead
"You will be the last of your kind, for a few moments. Death comes, nephalem."
Abandon this fight now. Abandon this world, abandon the mortal plane, and abandon illusion. Your life is nothing, fated to lead to death. I can end it, and save you pain. I shall end it. I shall break the illusion I and my kind have entertained for too long.
You have shed much blood. Some of yours has been shed in turn. To me, it is all the same. For I am Wisdom. I see your true nature. I see the blood of demons flows through you. I see that you have embraced death as well, all in a vain effort to stop it. Fool.
But still you fight.
"The end is inevitable. There is no other way."
I call the souls of the dead to my side as you persist on clinging to life. I can feel your mind drowning in your new power. I can sense your fear as you feel as attuned to these souls as I am. I see the horror in your eyes as you meet my sightless gaze – am I foe, or mirror? Am I demon, or angel? Am I your foe? Or am I your brother?
Believe what you want. But it must still end.
I do not discriminate. I make no excuse for my actions. I have seen your kind slay their own without mercy. I have seen them try to justify it. But these are words. I am of action. Perhaps, you know the truth. Even as you continue to fight. Even as the fear leaves your eyes, and a smile comes to your cracked lips.
You want to kill me. I can feel it.
It matters not. You may die with a smile on your lips, but you shall end nonetheless.
"You are imbued with the power of Death. But that will not save you."
It has come to this. I have done all I can. Fought long, and hard. But it is not enough. You are like a child, clinging to your mother's breast. The mind of the child, and all the will of a child to cling onto that which spawned you.
I know what spawned you. And I must take them into me.
I feel terror, and it is my own, knowing what I must do. But I hate you, and wish nothing but your destruction. The destruction of you, and your misbegotten kind. The end of your sins. The end of the lie we have all told ourselves. I shall take the Evils into me. I shall end Creation's anguish. And when I tear your soul from your body, I shall relish in your pain.
I am in control. I feel…I feel…
I come to battle. My scythes drive you back, and horror returns to your face. You know the truth at last.
Life is not precious. I can end it, and no-one will mourn you.
No words can save you now. Not as you protest at my "madness," not as you fear the Evils being freed. Nothing.
Nothing will save you. And now, at last, as I prepare the killing blow…
…
…
No.
No.
No!
You…can't have…
…
…
…
I now know the truth of mortals: all paths lead to death... whatever their struggles, whatever their triumphs, they die.
That is Wisdom.
And as I fall, I see the truth. As I fade, I see your face. As I depart, I know true wisdom. As I see you for what you are. As I see the wisdom I once knew.
No-one…can stop death.