The Choice - Part I

By: Requa Posted on: June 27, 2008

This is a two-part tale about love and loss, about right and wrong, about Light
and Dark, about what happens when the time comes to choose. This is a story
about what happened when circumstance forced a young Tsol'aa to choose - and
the path she chose to take.

The sunset that evening was a glorious one, but Rowena took little notice as
she stood alone in a shadowed clearing, located in the eerie Black Forest. The
young Tsol'aa shook back her titian-red hair, took a deep breath and clutched
her trusty elemental staff tightly as her green gaze swept the area, noting the
seeming absence of human presence. However, she was not so easily fooled. "Show
yourself, Darwen!" she called, her soft Tsol'aa accent belying her sharp tone.

Silence greeted her words, and she frowned. Chanting an arcane word under her
breath, she illuminated the area with a bright flash of light, revealing for an
instant a tall male human leaning against a tree before he was shrouded again by
the lengthening shadows. A low, masculine chuckle echoed in the clearing,
amplified by the silence of the night. "You found me."

Her eyes narrowed to thin slits. "I'm not in the mood for games, Darwen. You
wanted me to come, so here I am. State your business and let's get this over
with."

The air seemed to ripple slightly around him as his tall figure stepped out of
the shadows, returning gradually to the realm of perception before her very
eyes. Ignoring her brusque words, his dark eyes appraised her swiftly, drinking
in her loveliness as he smiled, revealing the pointed fangs of a Serpent.
"Rowena, love..please, come to Mhaldor with me," he whispered, reaching a hand
out to her. "Come..we'll be happy there, I promise you."

Rowena flinched and took a step backward, avoiding his touch, and Darwen
withdrew his hand with a hurt look in his eyes. In contrast, her emerald gaze
hardened, and there was contempt in her voice as she looked at him. "You asked
me the same thing two months ago, Darwen, and I will give you the same answer I
gave you then: No. I cannot be happy with a man who murders innocents to
'eradicate the weak'," she said firmly.

Darwen sighed in frustration and looked up into the air for divine inspiration.
"It's not like that, Rowena," he tried to appeal to her, but her disbelieving
gaze told him his words fell on deaf ears.

She smiled humorlessly. "Really? It's not because you get overlooked
for House favours even though you die every time when Mhaldorians raid
Shallam?"

He clenched his teeth, and she knew she'd struck a nerve. "It's not, and you
damn well know it," he said through gritted teeth.

"So instead of resisting them, you chose to join them?" Requa
interrupted, her voice rising with controlled fury. "Instead of training and
honing your combat skills with perfectly able people who serve Good, you
decided to take sides with the very culprits who have been slaughtering the
innocent in the City of Light? Wise
decision, Darwen," she spat, her lilting voice resounding in the quiet forest.

Lord Twilight conjured Stygian darkness over the land, pierced only by the
radiance of the moon. The cold moonlight bathed the clearing in a soothing
glow, but did nothing to cool down the tense atmosphere between the two young
people.

Rowena sighed and turned, preparing to leave. "This discussion is over, Darwen.
My answer is no."

Panicked at the thought of losing her, Darwen lunged and grabbed her hand,
causing Rowena to gasp and raise her staff in anticipation of an attack. Seeing
this, he let go, his expression anguished. "Joining Mhaldor doesn't cancel out
my love for you, Rowena!" he exclaimed, his composed demeanor cracking.
"Nothing in the world can stop me loving you, and I can't believe this could
stop you loving me!"

He walked quickly towards her, and grasped her by the shoulders, gazing deep
into her eyes. "Look at me, Rowena." He forced her chin upwards with his strong
fingers. "Can you look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me any more?"

A hundred emotions, a thousand memories, flooded her body as she gazed into his
imploring eyes. Playing tag in the subdivisions. Their first kiss in the
subdivisions amongst a bed of red roses. Him treating her to dinner at
Sahart's, the best restaurant in Shallam. The fights they'd had and the
wonderful making up. Staring at his handsome, earnest features, she hadn't
realized how much she'd missed his face, his voice, his touch. She faltered.
"I..."

Something gleamed in the pale moonlight. She looked down and noticed the
flame-toned gold wire bracelet that she'd inherited from her great-godfather.
It was a symbol of her identity, her heritage, and it was her most treasured
possession. Instantly she thought of her family, her friends, her city -
Cyrene, Heart of the Vashnars. Days spent on fishing excursions in Lake Muurn,
sitting at Centre Crossing attending chorales and Rites of Prayer, sharing the
food on the pedestal, firefly-catching at dusk in the Imperial Gardens. Her
newest acceptance into the folds of the Arcane Kindred, a move she'd been
dreaming of for months. Could she really give that all up for Darwen? Did she
-really- love him? She reached deep inside herself, searching her soul, and
finally made her choice.

She looked him squarely in the eye. "I..don't." The words came out, not in a
choked whisper as she'd thought it would, but in a sure, clear voice, despite
her inner turbulence, and she knew it was the truth. She repeated the words in
a stronger voice. "I don't love you, Darwen."

He let go of her and stepped back from her as quickly as though hed been burnt,
disbelief etched on his face. "That isn't true, Rowena. You don't mean that," he
said, his voice trembling with emotion. "You -can't- mean that."

She shook her head, her fiery curls tossing, her lips set but her
expressive eyes couldn't hide the regret and sorrow that she felt. "You have
made your choice, and I have made mine. I wish you all the best, Darwen. Be
well." She turned on her heel, ready to leave.

Rowena was just preparing to attune herself to her Master Crystal when she felt
cold steel against her neck. Her eyes flew open to look down at the
needle-pointed dirk pressed against her throat. A harsh whisper resonated
beside her ear, so different from the smooth voice from just moments before.
"Don't make me -make- you come, sweetheart."

She trembled with rage and fear, and he must have felt it because the pressure
on her throat slackened - and she seized her chance. She deftly writhed out of
his grip, wincing a little as the dirk grazed her throat despite her efforts.
"Stay away from me, -Mhaldorian-," she snarled. "I'll never go with you." At
her command, a water weird and a fiery efreeti appeared at her side and
advanced towards him menacingly.

Darwen turned and grinned, the light of madness and desire in his eyes.
"Perhaps you just need a little..persuasion." He deftly wielded an iron-tipped
whip and stabbed at her with his dirk in one fluid motion. She twisted away
from him, but she was too slow; her shoulder was grazed by the sharp point, and
crimson blood instantly dribbled from the wound. As she winced in pain, her
efreeti spun furiously towards Darwen and engulfing him with red-hot flames on
contact, elicting a scream of agony.

The effect was short-lived as he quickly took mending salve from a vial in his
pocket and rubbed it on his skin, putting the fire out instantly. The efreeti
continued to spin, but Darwen slipped quietly behind it and slit its throat,
causing it to let out an agonizing howl of pain and explode into nothingness.
He continued to advance towards her, dipping the tip of his dirk into a vial of
unknown venom hanging from his belt; Requa knew that there would be dire
consequences if he managed to pierce her with it.

She raised her staff and pointed the tip at him, and a scintilla of
bright light burst from the tip and struck him full in his face. He
hissed in pain, quickly taking a sip from the health vial around his
belt and immediately looking slightly rejuvenated. Taking advantage of her
momentary loss of equilibrium, he jabbed at her with his envenomed dirk and
made contact. Instantly she closed her eyes and dropped to the floor, fast
asleep.

He stood there a second, momentarily transfixed by her delicate beauty. Knowing
he had only moments, he pulled himself together with a start and knelt to pick
her up in his arms, but that split second lapse of concentration proved to be
enough for Rowena. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and she leapt to her feet,
angling the tip of her staff at him. This time, a dazzling bolt of lightning
roared into him, setting his nerves on fire and his hair standing on end.

He was bleeding profusely as he took another sip from his health vial. "I'll
kill you if I have to, Rowena, and drag your corpse to Mhaldor," he growled,
his voice hoarse with pain.

She raised an eyebrow at him. A little trickle of blood made its way
down her throat where he had pricked her. "You can try," she said with a
confidence she did not feel.

Meanwhile, in her mind, she hurriedly formed a link to her city channel.

(Cyrene): Rowena says, "Please help me, Darwen is attacking me in the
Western Ithmia!"

Available friends and citymates immediately offered their assistance, but that
second of concentration proved to be her undoing. Taking advantage of her
seeming hesitation, Darwen lunged and made a deep gash along her stomach, which
immediately gushed blood. She bent double in agony, quickly taking a sip of her
health elixir, but it was useless. With shocking clarity, she realized that
Lord Thoth awaited her on his next blow.

Darwen walked coolly up to where she knelt on the grass in pain, looking down
at her. Death was near, he could feel it. "One last chance, Rowena," he said
quietly, his eyes imploring.

"What is your choice?"