As Life is for the Unliving
As best she could comprehend, she, Alexstrasza, the Aspect of Undeath, and one of the Four, was dying.
It was comprehension that mostly escaped her, as she lay there, slumped against the ruins of what had once been the seat of power of King's Crest. Once, the banners of the dragon and flower had flown from this place. When the Raven Lord slew Queen Raena and her children, and had taken the realm for his own, he had not bothered to raise his own banners on the castle walls. He had let the castle burn. He had let the realm burn. Because his actions, those who defied him said that all of the Nexus was burning. People like Raena. People like Prince Verick and Princess Delia. People like the traitor, Orphea.
The one who had struck her. The one who stood before her.
"Impudent…traitorous…"
She tried to channel the fel fire that was her birthright, but the girl, not yet even a woman, was too quick. Energy extended from the child's hands, and shot with such power and force that it not only engulfed the fel fire that the Aspect of Undeath channelled, but engulfed her body as well. Not enough to truly strike her down, but enough to send her further against the castle wall, leaving a queen-sized indentation.
"That's enough," Orphea said.
Alexstrasza spat as the girl walked up to her. Orphea paid it no heed however. She just walked, stopped, and stood, trying to convey a righteousness that she didn't even possess.
"Enough…" Alexstrasza rasped – ichor dropped from between her lips, as blood might from the living. It fell upon the grass, burning it, sending a small trail of smoke into the air. "You…will never know…what enough…means."
"Enough?" Orphea asked. She knelt down beside her father's general. "'Enough' was reached when my father invaded this place. 'Enough' was reached when his people cried out in agony. 'Enough' should have been the word on the lips of every man and woman when the wars that consumed this place began. Before even you drew breath"
"So high and mighty of you," Alexstrasza sneered. "Yet you fight yourself. You hide in the ruins of this place, waiting to ambush me, for fear of taking the Four together!" She spat at Orphea – the ichor reached her dress, and burnt a small hole in it. For her part, Orphea didn't appear to even notice. "You…coward!"
"Coward?" Orphea whispered. She glanced towards the ruins of the castle. Alexstrasza followed her gaze, and from what she could tell, they were looking at where the throne room had once stood. "Yes. I suppose you could say that…" She turned back to face the Aspect of Undeath. "But in a saying repeated across this world and others, discretion is the better part of valour." She knelt down, meeting Alexstrasza's gaze – red eyes, stained with tears and blood, looked into the fel green glow that came from the eyes of undeath. "I cannot take the Raven Lord, Alexstrasza. I canot take the Four. But while the banners of the raven spread across this world, I can still take you."
Alexstrasza tried to spit again – at such a close range, there was no chance that she wouldn't hit the traitor's face. But it came to nothing, as Orphea grabbed her by the throat, choking her.
"Did it do you good?" Orphea whispered. "To slay the Aspect of Life? To bring pain and misery to those of this realm?"
She remained silent.
"Do you call me a coward to satiate your own guilt? Throwing in your lot with the Raven Lord after the fall of the Grave Keeper?"
Alexstrasza tried to say something, but couldn't manage it. Even she needed to draw breath.
"Oh, sorry." Orphea loosened her grip and stood up. Looked down upon the general as she smiled.
"Pain and misery," Alexstrasza whispered. "You flee the Raven Tower and travel the realms, and you do not recognise the truth." She let out a small laugh, even as each breath tore through her ribs, and cut her unlife shorter. She wanted Orphea to hear it. Every syllable of the song that was eternity.
"What truth?" Orphea whispered.
"Pain and misery," Alexstrasza repeated. "The truth of the Nexus. The truth from whence the first realm was pulled into the storm. The truth that remained true from before you let out your first cry, and the truth that shall remain even after I leave this world." She let out another laugh, this time ichor dribbling down from her lips, burning her own flesh. "Yes, I know. No coming back for me. Without a singularity in this realm, those who die in King's Crest shall remain dead."
"And that does not scare you?"
"Unlife," Alexstrasza whispered. "That is the way of the Nexus, no? Heroes, born and slain, only to be reborn to complete the cycle. In a way, are they not all unliving?" She sighed, a motion that even by itself, felt like it was rending body and already mangled soul in two. "I served the Master of the Grave, and after he, the Raven, when his strength became manifest. I have been foremost among the Four. You may slay me, Orphea. You may slay the Spider, the Witch, and the Phantom Knight. Perhaps you will accomplish what none have ever accomplished and slay the Raven Lord itself. But do so with the truth etched in mind and soul – the Nexus is the Nexus. Conflict, life, death, rebirth. Not even one of your power will change that."
Orphea remained silent – a shame, Alexstrasza reflected. She wanted to hear the girl protest against the truth. To prove that power did not equate to wisdom. Wanted to hear screams against the dying light from one who would not go quietly, and would suffer a thousand deaths as punishment for her defiance.
"You will…see," Alexstrasza whispered. "The truth…will set…you free…"
She was losing vision. Ichor left her body, as did her spirit. Even now, she did not fear the coming darkness. She had served the Raven Lord. She had slain the Aspect of Life. She had served, and spoken, the truth. Death was nothing compared to vindication.
Thus, she met the darkness as friend and ally.
Thus, the unlife of Alexstrasza, Aspect of Undeath, member of the Four, came to an end.
A coda, before the end of all things.
A/N
So, to be honest, I really disliked how Orphea was portrayed in Fall of King's Crest. In the space of a single issue, she goes from "spunky badass" to "quivering wreck." And I get that people will sometimes have their courage fail them, but it's disconcerting to just have her stay on the sidelines while Raena and her family are wiped out, including characters that are apparently introduced just to die (Verick and Delia).
Not that this is any better mind you, but it did give me the idea to drabble this up.