Twisted Fate
Chapter 2
Given the choice, Nariel would have happily stayed unconscious forever, but the world was not so kind. She awoke to pangs of hunger that had eventually overpowered the sickness she had felt after Sath'rovok's betrayal. Standing patiently where she had left it the night before was the Paladin's charger, ever loyal to its rider. She made her way over to search the bags attached to the mount and found a small pack of rations and a sack of gold coins which she took before sending the horse off into the forest. She needed a mount, it was true, but not that mount.
Not his mount.
Quietly she ate, trying to take her time with the act. When her hunger disappeared, she knew the pain would return. There was so much she didn't understand - she might never understand. A day earlier she had been happy. She had missed the love of her life but she still had the love of her life.
Except I didn't. She thought.
He was gone a long time ago. I just didn't realize it until yesterday. She told herself bitterly.
Where had it gone wrong? If only she had known…
The thought that it might have been avoidable if she had only known he was unhappy was almost as painful as the realization had been the day before when she saw his face. She should have known. He was hers. She should have known everything about him.
Why hadn't she noticed? The question tore at her.
Question after question bombarded her as she sat under the tree, and the only answer she could give to each one was the sameover and over again.
I don't know.
Minutes turned into hours as the day went on. She sat there trying to make sense of it, trying to find a single thread of her sanity to cling to, searching for any escape from the prison she felt being built around her mind.
It finally came to her in the familiar form of her rumbling stomach and before long she had repeated the ritual of the morning with the last of her food, dragging out her sad meal to delay the inevitable return of sorrow. For the first time as she ate, she let her mind drift from the Paladin to herself and her current situation. She had no idea where she was, or which direction to go to get home. As she sat scanning the trees, a thought struck her.
Why would I want to go back to Silvermoon anyways? She asked herself.
So I can be reminded of Sath every time I pass the Blood Knight barracks, or worse, actually see him?
So I can continue to play the delivery girl?
There was nothing for her there she realized. There never had been. She had clung to the false hope, and scraps desperately because the happiness she had felt with Sath'rovok had deluded her into thinking that everything else would somehow end up in her favor as well. In the absence of the one good thing she truly had, the veil fell away from the rest of her world and revealed it for what it truly was – emptiness. Maybe she could escape. Maybe she could put it all behind her. In time, maybe she could even forget about Sa- about him. She scanned the trees slowly, finding that the sun was just beginning to set. She had been sitting for the whole day, alone and distraught.
He did this to me. She thought. He took everything from me.
It hurt more than any physical pain she had ever felt. And worse, she knew it would hurt for a long time. Maybe it would start to fade but she knew she would miss him every night when she laid down alone. She knew that as hard as she tried her mind would still wander back to him frequently, curious as to his whereabouts or what he was doing at that moment - and she hated it.
She rose and peered up at the sky, deciphering the direction she had traveled from the fading sun. She had gone south – far south apparently, judging by the lack of any sort of settlements nearby, but she was still in Eversong. She looked to the north, towards Silvermoon and felt nothing. Nothing to cling to. No one to miss her. Nothing to replace what she had lost. Slowly, she turned south, to the Ghostlands. She felt something. It was foreign; hope perhaps? Certainly she felt unsure but somehow knew her choice had been made.
So be it. She thought as she set off.
With each step farther from the city, she mentally purged away more of her old life. Memories of her childhood were erased. Images of the wondrous arcane streams were shut out. Thoughts of returning to Silvermoon were banished from her mind. Bit by bit she began to unravel the tangled web that had comprised her life up until then, cutting away what memories and thoughts she knew she could and relegating the rest to a part of her mind she vowed never to open. Finally, as the night fully set in, she at last cleared away the shattered rubble of her emotions, ever so carefully collected what little remained of her precious broken heart, and sealed it away, determined to forevermore keep it locked away from the reach of those who she might be foolish enough to trust.
Her final act before she began her journey in earnest – wherever it may lead her – was to reach into her bag and pull out the only piece of gear she never wore. It was a small leather mask which encased her jaw in leather up to the tip of her nose. It served her purpose well, ensuring that no one would recognize her with it on. As Nariel fastened it around her face, she couldn't help but relish the security that she felt with it on and the thought that her old life – and Sath'rovok with it – was hidden away safely behind it. Perhaps there were parts of it that she could never forget. Only time would reveal to her what they were, but to the rest of the world she was now only a rogue, and she would do everything in her power to keep it that way, for she was determined never again to suffer at the hands of another.
