Murielle sat wrapped in a shawl to keep off the chill of the morning air and waited for the destroyer of her world to come.
Carefully she smoothed the scrolls that laid on her lap and checked again her findings, knowing all the while that she had made no mistake. Perhaps it would not have come to this is she has been able to keep the clan together, The clan's magic would have kept the diamonds out.
With Stiff fingers she rolled her scrolls back up and pulled her wrap tight around her as she leaned back dozing off from exhaustion.
Faint music rousted Mirelle from her sleep. She looked up to see a tiny golden sphere hovering in the air before her. At her gesture it landed on her open hand. Mirelle looked at it for a long time certain she already knew the message it carried.
Reluctantly she breathed on the sphere, it spin and burst in the air releasing the words of another dying sorcerer. Her eyes filled with tears as she listened to his few words, he had only time to say that what he had planned had failed. She grieved at the loss of another friend, There were so very few of her kind left.
The colors had begun to drain away; as if someone had pored water on a giant canvas. The creature was coming closer. Opening the door she went into the house that had sheltered many generations of sorcerers before her, Magic clung to its very stones. Many times she had sought comfort listening to the echoes of enchantments long past, but now when she ran her hands along it's smooth walls she felt only stone. Gone were the whispers of vanished sorcerers; the creature had to be very near.
Deep in concentration she began to summon the magic that she had kept sealed within her for so long. When she was finished she cradled a shimmering ball in her hands not unlike the one that had brought her the message. Trembling from the force she used to wield her magic she sat in the armchair near the fire.
The door that lead to the outside slowly swung open, and in the doorway stood a small figure wrapped in a blanket. Mirelle thought for a moment but forced herself to speak "Please come in." The creature moved to Mirelle and stood there. Mirelle took a deep breath "Come, join me by the fire where it is warm."
The monster walked slowly into the circle of light created by the fire where it could clearly be seen. Mirelle was shocked to see that the creature they all feared looked more like a starving child than a destroyer of worlds. It's skin was pulled tight over it's face, it's eyes frightened and staring. The colors of sorcery began to fade from the room; the skeletal figure was absorbing them before it would begin to feed on her own magic.
Holding the sphere out to the creature she beaconed it closer. Was it an apprentice who had unleashed a terrible spell, Mirelle wondered, or just a child to whom the gift had become twisted, always starving and never finding enough to eat.
She grieved that she would never find out what happened, that she probably could not have saved the child even if she had known.
"Come here little one. I have some beautiful magic for you. I know you are hungry. Come to me."
The creature turned it's eyes on her and slowly climbed into her lap and laid it's hand on her shoulder with a sigh, it's eyes fixed on the enchanted sphere she held in her hand. Already Mirelle was beginning to feel cold as her magic left her, but she let it flow out of her to hold the child there. And to comfort the little girl, for that was what she was to her a dying child and no longer a monster. Mirelle Breathed on the sphere to give forth it's magic and ease the child's hunger.
In her other hand she broke open a vial; together they breathed in the sweet scent of poison gas. Mirelle held her close and sang to her the way her mother had sung to her as a child. As death came to them, she felt the magic release from the child's tortured body. Mirelle kissed the child's cheek and eased their passing with a lullaby.