The Losses and Sacrifices of Executioner
Once, there was an adventurer who went by the name of Executioner. As a hero to the people of Albion, this man was contradicting. To many, he was the savior and protector of the weak, the powerful warrior who could slay any monster and rid any area of bandits. He was a champion of the Crucible and avenger of the people. To the other many, however, Executioner was pure evil in the form of a man. In Old Bowerstone, he was a terror. When he returned to the city, he would often slaughter many of the poor folk of the slum area that had become Old Bowerstone. In Bower Lake, the corpses of guards scattered throughout the lake area were a common site, slain by Executioner's silver ax.
But the slaughter was not the end of Executioner's cruelty. The massacres in Old Bowerstone were a common thing. His killings started with only the prostitutes he found were not attractive enough for customers, and he had never killed them in the open. He would pretend that he was taking them to use their services, and he would lead them into a cellar. It was down there that, before the women could even utter the smallest sound, he drew his weapon and killed them. The bodies of these prostitutes were usually found the next day, leaving the owners of the cellars wondering who could have done such a thing.
One day, when Executioner was meeting with a shady man to discuss the details of an assassination job, one of the prostitutes curiously wandered into the alley where he was speaking to this man. When he turned to leave the alley, he saw the woman blocking his way. Instead of simply asking her to move, he drew his pistol and shot her in the head, killing her instantly. The sound of the gunshot rang throughout the quiet night of Old Bowerstone. A few of the outlaws that lived in the slum area rushed toward the source to find Executioner standing there with a smoking pistol in his hand and the dead prostitute at his feet. They drew their own weapons to attack him, but he was too quick for them. Before they could try to attack, Executioner had drawn his ax and cut off their heads. That was the night the first Old Bowerstone massacre occurred. After that night, beggars often woke to the barrel of Executioner's pistol to their heads, and the death cry of a prostitute was a common sound whenever he was in town.
Despite the terror and chaos Executioner caused in Old Bowerstone, he never caused any problems in Bowerstone Market or the Fairfax Gardens. He even had a home close to Fairfax Gardens. It was there he lived with his ninth wife (the first seven all left him, and the eighth he killed when she told him she was leaving him), Elizabeth. She was the jewelry vender in Bowerstone Market, and the two of them met when he bought ownership of her stall. She was wary of the man who just bought her stall... even more cautious of his money. He was nicely dressed, he was handsome, but he gave off a bad aura. She chose not to decline the purchase; it was obvious that he was wealthy. It was a combination of his money and his dark, good looks that attracted her to Executioner. She had heard about all of the horrible things he had done, and that his hands were coated with innocent blood, but she found herself attracted to him regardless. When he proposed to her after she had heard that another one of his wives had left him, she accepted, figured that she could finally become a lady of luxury.
Elizabeth was greatly disappointed with the first home Executioner had bought for them. "It's... nice," she said reluctantly as she looked around the two-story home. "I would like to move somewhere better someday though." With an irritated look, Executioner left, as he often did, to go on some mission he didn't tell her about.
After three other houses that Executioner bought for them, he finally bought a house right next to the Fairfax Gardens. Executioner led her to the house, away from her stall when she was working. She smiled excitedly as she entered the home. "Does this satisfy you?" Executioner grumbled as he watched Elizabeth walk slowly in the living room.
She smiled back at him. "Yes, this is the house of my dreams!" She ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck. "I love this house! Let's never move!" She looked into his dark eyes and smirked. "In fact, I think we need to celebrate..."
Executioner smirked as he followed his wife upstairs to their bedroom.
A few months passed, and the negative facts about Executioner kept getting to Elizabeth's ears. Some of her customers would come to her stall and gossip. "You know he's only so wealthy because he overcharges the tenants of his buildings," one woman said.
"That's strange, because he never jacks up the prices on the stalls he owns," Elizabeth responded. She didn't care about the tenants of his buildings, or the people he slaughtered in Old Bowerstone. If they weren't her customers, she didn't care too much.
Besides, she had more things on her mind. After the shops closed for the night, she returned home, hoping her husband would return soon.
Just as she wished, he returned that night. She had been feeling sick lately, and hadn't wanted to be alone for quite some time now. When he stripped on his coat and shirt, she was very startled to see many recently inflicted bruises and gashes. She went over and took out a first aid kit she kept in one of the cabinets. "May I ask what on earth happened?" she asked as he started to tend to his own wounds. He refused to let her help.
"Oh." He pulled up his travel bag over to himself and opened it, pulling out a golden trophy before holding it out it out to her. "I conquered the Crucible in Westcliff. This is mostly from the bandits and Rock Troll."
Elizabeth stared down at the golden trinket. "Why on earth did you go to such a dangerous place?" She looked up at him with concern. She knew he had gone to dangerous places before, but Westcliff was full of nothing but bandits and fugitives. The Crucible was an amazing feat, but Executioner never struck her as the type to really go for that place. "Did you want to be famous or something?"
"I had to go there so I can get to Lucien."
Elizabeth frowned. Lucien had run off a long time ago; why would he put himself through such bodily harm to get to him? She set the trophy onto the nightstand beside the bed and sat down by him. "Why do this to yourself to get to that lunatic? I don't understand. What did he to do you to make you so obsessed?"
"He killed my sister. And he tried to kill me too," he said calmly as he finished covering his bandages. "So I'll have his head. Then, maybe I can rest for a while."
This was the first time she had ever heard about this. She never knew about his past at all besides the terror he would cause. "Your sister..." she repeated to herself. She never heard about this; no one in Bowerstone seemed to know about it either. She gently touched the back of his hand. Now it made more sense; his obsession with tracking down Lucien and why he was gone so much, why he was so cruel towards people... "Please, tell me about your life. I want to understand you better."
Exuecutioner looked at her in an odd way; a way she didn't know if he was annoyed or glad. "All right, I'll tell you... because I may never see you again, Elizabeth."
Executioner told her everything from the beginning. He started with being a starving orphan with his older sister Rose in Old Town, and the day they bought the music box that lead them to being summoned to Lucien's castle. He told her how Lucien killed killed Rose before him, them shot him, and despite falling through the tower window into the frozen street below, he survived. He told her how Theresa took him in and raised him among the gypsies, and he returned to Bowerstone with the intent on how to track down Lucien to destroy him. The fact that Lucien was building something that could wipe out all of Albion just made his pursuit seem noble. And that was why he was gone so often and for so long; he was going by Theresa's guidance on how to get to 'the Tattered Spire', where he was. His victory at the Crucible was one step closer to destroying that man, and he had to save a Will user named Garth in order to help destroy him. After Executioner was done with his story, he went to sleep and slept for almost a solid day. He stayed until the dawn of the following morning, and bid Elizabeth farewell. He told her he wasn't sure if he would honestly make it back.
She felt better that he had told her everything. She knew it shouldn't, but she felt that what he had been through made his cruelty more understandable. He said he had never told his other wives about his past. Elizabeth believed Executioner really did love her, despite his detachment and frequent disappearances.
Once he was gone, Elizabeth placed her hand on her stomach. She wondered if it was a mistake she didn't tell him about their child that was growing inside her.
Executioner's years within the Tattered Spire only proved to fuel his burning hatred for Lucien. It was either suck up all of his pride and spinelessly obey orders, or lose his memories of who he was. Executioner knew better than to gamble with his past, so he did as he was told, no matter how brutal and heartless. He was gone for ten years. Being within that dark place, it was hard to tell the passage of time. He managed to escape the Spire with the man he had been sent in to free, and as soon as he found himself on the shores of Oakfield, he decided to go home to Bowerstone and be with Elizabeth. After so many years, he needed a much needed, long rest.
His hair and goatee had been shaved off in the Spire, but Elizabeth recognized him immediately. She had been shopping with a little boy following close behind her. "Executioner!" she cried, dropping her basket of produce. He looked over at her, looking weary and exhausted. She gently led him back to their house and let him sleep. She would introduce them to their son at a different time. Whatever he had been through had been very hard on him, and she could tell by the look in his eyes. She also noticed that whatever happened made that flare of anger in his eyes even more fierce.
Executioner slept for a solid day. When he woke up, the boy was staring at him. The child looked a lot like him when he was a boy. "Who are you?" he asked in a tired voice.
Elizabeth had sat down on the bed beside him. "This... is Alan, dear. Your son." Executioner looked over at her. "I was pregnant when you left. At the time, I didn't think it would have been appropriate to tell you."
Alan smiled brightly. "So you're my dad! Mom's been talking about you all the time. You're a Hero!" Executioner nodded, and Alan looked over at the ax that was propped up on the wall. "Wow! I want to be a Hero too when I grow up!"
"Go and play for now, Alan. Your father is tired." Alan nodded as he scurried off, a group of children waiting for him outside. Elizabeth sighed softly and looked over at him. "What happened to you in that place, dear? You seem... I don't even know how to say it."
Executioner lay flat on his back as he stared up at the ceiling. "It's nothing that I couldn't handle, cruelty wise... Just starving people, and having to be a spineless idiot for ten years." He sat up, his anger flaring in his eyes. "I'll destroy that man... I swear it."
Elizabeth knew better than to try to argue with him. "But for now..." she said softly, putting her hands on his chest and lay him back onto their bed. "Sleep. You have worked far too hard... and you can go back in your journeys later. Stay home for a while and at least get to know your son. Show him some Hero things."
Executioner nodded slowly, and relaxing was making him more and more aware of how truly exhausted he was. "I suppose it wouldn't to rest a while longer..."
His wife smiled softly as he quickly does off again. "Welcome home, my love."
Executioner remained with his family for two weeks, resting and trying to catch up on regular life. After a week, he packed his things. He still hadn't killed Lucien, and he told Elizabeth that he couldn't truly rest into Lucien was dead. He bid Elizabeth and Alan farewell, with the promise of returning. Alan cried a little before Executioner left, but smiled when his father promised to bring him something interested when he returned.
A few times, Executioner returned. He gave Alan a necklace with a troll's eye and a Balverine fang on the chain. Elizabeth enjoyed her time with him. He told her his battles may be coming to an end soon; the last key to taking down Lucien was in Bloodstone. She didn't want to see him go to such a dangerous and sinful place, but she had no choice but to let him go. He spent a week with his family before departing, ready to end this long battle. Before he left, he warned her to be cautious. He didn't know if Lucien would come after her and Alan, but he warned her either way.
One day, Elizabeth paced the house. Something in the pit of her stomach told her something terrible was going to happen. And that feeling was right. Spire guards were marching towards their home. Elizabeth heard them coming, and hid herself in separate crates in the attic. She hid in the darkness, hoping Executioner would return before they were found. She heard them coming up the latter to the attic, and throwing off the lids to the crates. It was only a matter of time...
They were dead. Lucien told Executioner of this before killing Leon, his long time furry companion, then pulling the trigger on him. He was trapped in a dream state where he and Rose had their parents, and they lived in a large and beautiful home on a huge farm in the countryside. It was such a beautiful and tempting dream... It was the sort of life Rose had wished so dearly for the both of them when she was alive.
And yet... it was nothing more than that. A beautiful dream. This innocent bottle hunting and rounding chickens wasn't real. Lucien had taken everything Executioner held dear.
In the dream, he heard the music from the music box that started all of this; the music box they used that drew Lucien's attention to the two orphaned children in the first place. "It's nothing, little Sparrow," the dream Rose said. "Go back to sleep." Sparrow... That was a name he hadn't heard in ages. But he had to go for it. A gate at the far end of the farm was open. He left the house and wandered down the trail with Rose telling him to come back as she followed him. As he passed the gate, the dream lost its sense of warmth. It started raining, and eerie red aura filled the area. Rose cried out and vanished.
As young Sparrow wandered down the path, the dream took a disturbing turn. The path was filled with burning corpses, gnarled trees, and ancient ruins of the Old Kingdom. The music kept getting louder. At the top of the ruin, the music box sat on a pedestal. He picked it up, his past rushed through his mind... The day Rose died, when he found the guild and began his journey, when Hannah's father was murdered, when he won the Crucible, when he was in the Spire, when he sacrificed the woman to Reaver's Dark Seal and returned to the pirate, and right when Lucien shot him again in the chest on the mountain...
Rose's voice ran out again, telling him the music box was the weapon to destroy Lucien. He would take the box to the Spire to finally face Lucien. When he woke up, he was once again inside the Spire, and the vast white light that stood at the top of the steps.
Executioner unsheathed his ax and disappeared into the light.
Inside, Lucien absorbing the powers of Hammer, Garth, and Reaver. Lucien tried to cast the same sleep spell he had done on Executioner when he first appeared at the Spire, but the Hero held out the music box. Its gentle melody canceled the spell's powers, and broke the spells on the other three. The whole room filled with light, and Lucien's power broke. He was vulnerable now. Executioner took out his pistol. He took out his pistol and fired.
That was it. The three woke up, and Theresa appeared, telling him the Spire was ready to accept the wish of its user.. Rose's voice echoed in his head, telling him it was going to be okay. He took the blind woman's hand, and he appeared in a room of solid white light.
He had three choices: to bring back those who were sacrificed in the building the Spire, to bring back all of his family, or wealth beyond his wildest dreams.
He looked at the three cards representing each choice the Theresa lay out before him. He would want nothing more than to have him family back... To see Rose, Elizabeth, Alan, and Leon all in his life again, but...
He knew how many other people in the world had suffered just as he had. He had vast power in his hands right now, and people already thought of him as either a savor or a demon. He could already hear Elizabeth telling him that this was his sole chance to truly redeem himself, to be seen as a true Hero of Albion. "Bring them back..." Executioner mumbled. "Bring back the lives sacrificed to this horrid thing..."
"So be it."
A bolt of light shot up the spire and formed at its peak. A wave of energy shot out, covering the skies of Albion. Those who died for the Spire appeared in their loved ones homes, and he reappeared in the room with the other three.
Hammer told him his choice surprised him. His noble choice was a shock from such a dark soul. Reaver and Garth were sent to Garth's homeland. Hammer went to the north with the warrior monks. Executioner didn't like seeing the girl go; Hammer was his closest friend. Theresa remained in the Spire...
Executioner returned to his empty home in Bowerstone. Elizabeth and Alan had been buried while he was gone, but there were still blood stains in the attic. He never went up there again. He sat down before the fireplace in an arm chair, locked up his weapons, and had no desire to fight anymore. He never married again.