Time stood still. It was a moment many had said they experienced, but for me this was my first. Time did stand still; the debris that was falling around us stopped suddenly. The screaming fear of the city silenced. My own heart could not find a beat, and my lungs did not fill with air. All I could see was the two of them; one staring at me with the bluest of eyes that'd make the ocean jealous, and the other turning his back on me, waiting for my final decision.
How did this burden fall upon me? Why was this task given to me and no one else? I focus on my friends, my friends, asking me to do the impossible. They are all watching, waiting for the outcome to some grand epic event that I wasn't privy to. "There can be no peace," he had said. No truer words were ever spoken. His actions condemned the lives of hundreds. His own inner torment destroying our friendship with one simple act.
"He dies," came the words from my Prince. His grief overwhelmed my own, seeing him on his knees as the flames surrounded him. So many lives lost, but none so precious as his Elthina. Now committed to ashes, by the actions of another, my how the tables have turned. Justice is demanded. And it is my job to rectify this?
I break away from the ice cold stare that could haunt my dreams and refocus on the man in front of me. He is kind enough not to face me in the remaining moments of his life. Friends we were once, lovers even, but I had abandoned him when he needed me most. I could no more support him then than now, and yet I hesitate. Why didn't he tell me? If only he had...
Then I would be just as responsible as he. No, I already am just as responsible. I set him on this course of vengeance, abandoning him when I did. Leaving him to his struggles on his own. If I had remained by his side, a true friend as I had promised, the outcome may have been different. It is too late for that now, too late for him, for us, for the future we had once promised each other.
Sometimes there is no turning back.
Both await my decision. They hold their breaths as I hold my own, waiting. I unsheathe my blade, the sound of steel against leather letting them know the time has come. In front of me and beside me movement remains frozen, and it isn't until the blade penetrates flesh that both turn in shock.
I look down at the dagger imbedded in my chest, piercing my heart so it will no longer function, and smile as the fade begins to surround me like a warm comforting blanket. I had reached my limit of deciding the fate of those around me. My life is my own, as theirs should be. Live or die my friends, but let the choice be yours and no one else's.