Secret Unearthed - Act 1

Finale

     I wasn't always a mage, as I'm sure you knew already. I grew up alone with my Grandmother, the kindest person I had known. When I had just turned thirteen, she was bedridden. I tried to take care of her but...

     We both knew she wasn't going to last much longer. She told me to stay honest, to inspire it unto others. I knew I couldn't stand watching her die, so I left before she died. I decided to join the castle guard, to protect people and inspire the Integrity my Grandmother wanted me to. I was the youngest member there, and I was looked down on by both the higher ups and civilians.

     It was tough, but I did my service. I worked my way up, until I became Captain. Everything was looking my way then. Guards respected me, people did, I was on my way to fulfilling her wishes. But I guess, the bigger the fish, the more attention the predators have on you.

     On was stopped on one of my rounds, by a cloaked man. He was a representative of a gang, one that had a greatly expanding empire. I was offered bribery, a place in that scum filled empire of theirs. I turned him down in a heartbeat, and I even arrested him. I thought it was all done with then, that temptations were behind me. I was wrong.

     The next day, another man came up to me, and he wasn't alone. He came with two large guys, obviously thugs to make him look tough and to beat down anyone who happened to disagree with him. My guard was up, and I sweated. He gave me the same offer the other guy gave me, but there was a predatory glint in his eyes and smile. I walked away, and then I was immediately ambushed.

     I was lucky to be alive, if it weren't for some travelling pedestrians, I would either be dead or permanently crippled. They drove off the thugs, and I was nurtured back to health. I realized that day that I had declared war, a war I couldn't win alone. I was so stupid then, thinking that I had some obligation to take these guys down. And even if I did, that would leave room for some other corrupt people to take their place. Different name, same morality.

     The next day, another man came, with more thugs. I tried to fight them off, ended up having my arm broke. The local baker and some of his workers were next door, they stepped in to fend them off. The thugs ran off, but... the baker was killed, and a bunch of the other guys were worse off than I was. I should have quit right then, but I was just so angry.

     I was so angry that I was weak, that I needed help from others just to stay alive. That there were people that would kill others just for getting in their way. I was angry of the fact that if I were anyone else, I would have been left to be beaten by those thugs. But just because I was ME, I was somehow worth saving. What about all of the others beaten down in abandoned alleys? The people that they had ignored for all this time? And yet when it's me, I'm somehow worth saving.

     I was so angry by this.

     Since then, similar situations emerged every day. Each day, a different tactic, a different thug, always either sent to beat, bribe or murder me. And always, there was some innocent passerby who I had done some kindness to, only to die just to save my life. Every day. And I could feel my very soul cracking, turning grey. I was just so tired. So tired of it all.

     A month of this, and I resigned from the guard. It didn't take long for someone else to take my place, whom I'm sure immediately jumped at the first sign of a dirty bag of gold given to them by some barbaric thug. But I didn't care anymore. I was homeless, penniless, and barely any food to keep up. But I didn't care.

     So many others offered shelter, jobs, food, but I always declined. I was done, and my soul was done. By the annual Harvest Festival, I was sitting in an alleyway. It was filthy, damp from recent rain, and I could hear nearby vermin feasting on rot and decay. I felt my soul almost completely turn grey, almost turned back on everything I ever believed in.