Echoes of a Life Unlived

It is a peculiar thing, is it not, how one longs for that which could have been instead of taking joy in that which is?

Wilhelm Greust made his way down the lavishly decorated hallway. The red silken drapes covering the glassless windows of the House of Learning swayed gently in the warm desert breeze that blew through the building, while the metallic sound of his sabatons contacting the polished, ornately engraved tiling of the floor echoed in the otherwise empty corridor.

He was accompanied by his squire, a young man by the name of Rogier Crowmore. He held in his arms Wilhelm's rather gaudy helmet, the plume of which constantly tickled his nose as his gait caused the feathery ornamentation to sway to and fro. His leather shinboots were considerably less noisy as he followed his mentor toward the school's library.

As the two men turned a corner, they came upon a large wooden door, outside of which was posted a guard clad in a dusky blue robe and a silvery mask. He was leaning onto a beautifully crafted glaive and twirling a small keepsake in between his fingers. When he noticed the approaching men, he brandished the weapon.

"HALT! Identify yourself and state your business in the Repository." He barked, pointing the glaive at Wilhelm and his squire.

"Wilhelm Greust, Seeker-Captain of the Circle of Dawn, and his protégé, Rogier Crowmore. We have been invited to join Zakiyah Farek in the Repository, post haste." Wilhelm replied, batting a particularly unruly lock of his blonde hair to the side.

The guard's gaze flitted between Wilhelm and Rogier a few times before it fixated back onto Wilhelm and he spoke again.

"Correction. YOU have been invited by the Guildmaster. The whelp stays here."

Wilhelm gave Rogier an apologetic look but gestured for him to stand back. The young squire looked dejected, and though he did not disobey his mentor, he begrudgingly dragged his feet towards a nearby bench. He was still grumbling when he took a seat, though what exactly he was saying was inaudible to Wilhelm or the guard.

"Just me now." Wilhelm stated.

The guard nodded and pulled out a rather sizable ring of keys. He spent a moment finding the desired one, and once it was found, he pushed it into the heavy-set iron lock and rotated it. The mechanism within the solid oak door clicked satisfyingly and the guard pushed it open, ushering Wilhelm inside before closing the door once more.

The air within the Repository was musty and dry, and it took only a few inhalations of it before Wilhelm had to cough. The sound was distractingly loud in the otherwise silent space, and Wilhelm felt like he was somehow defiling the sanctity of the place by bringing such cacophony into its serenity.

"Wilhelm? Is that you?" A female voice from somewhere behind the rows of shelves inquired, and Wilhelm made his way toward its source. A moment later, he arrived at what looked like a reading area of sorts, with several tables and chairs scattered about. There, standing next to a large stone pedestal with a brass vase on it, was Zakiyah. She smiled warmly upon seeing Wilhelm and beckoned him closer.

"Come. I have something to show you."

As Wilhelm approached the pedestal, Zakiyah gestured for him to stop a good few steps from it. She ran her fingers along the smooth surface of the vase, almost wistfully.

"Tell me... How are you with temptation, Eagleheart?" Zakiyah asked, smirking, as she rarely used Wilhelm's moniker other than in jest.

Wilhelm returned the smirk as he tightened the strap of his left pauldron. He and Zakiyah had known eachother for quite a while, so he knew that the mage was not making a move on him but that this was about something else entirely.

"Depends on the temptation, I guess. What are you playing at, Zakiyah?"

Zakiyah simply flicked her finger against the brass vase, causing a hollow metallic sound to ring out from it. After a few seconds, a purple vapor began to billow from the vase, prompting Wilhelm to take a step back and grasp at the hilt of his sword. The vapor swirled above the vase for a while before it began to take the form of an old man with weary eyes.

"This... is the Entity. You can let go of your sword, Wilhelm. It isn't dangerous unless you let it be." Zakiyah said. But Wilhelm barely registered her words, as he was instead focused on the face in the billowing haze.

"Father?" He asked, his voice a far cry from the confidence that he usually displayed. Zakiyah took a seat on one of the chairs to observe.

"Wilhelm..." The Entity spoke. "We have everything we could need. The Legion provides for us, boy. That magic of yours has given us a life of ease, and now you want to throw it all away by joining the church and leaving us behind? What of your sister? What of-" The vapor coalesced into a formless cloud before reshaping into the face of a woman.

"-me?" The Entity finished the sentence, its voice now that of a soft-spoken female.

Wilhelm turned to Zakiyah, his brow furrowed.

"What trickery is this? How is it showing me these people?"

Before Zakiyah could respond, the Entity spoke again.

"Stay with me, my love. The world will not fall with one less sword to defend it. We'll settle down in Haven, in that quaint little cottage you showed me. You don't have to go."

"I... I've had this discussion before. When I was transferred to the fellowship..." Wilhelm muttered as he leaned against the table, looking closer at the ghost-like figure in the purple mist.

The vapor swirled into a formless mass once more before transforming into the visage of a small child, a girl with her hair tied to a ponytail that reached all the way beyond the measures of the illusory countenance.

"This one I do not recognize. Is-" Wilhelm began but was interrupted by the Entity beginning to speak.

"Daddy! Daddy! Look what mommy made me!" The ghostly visage exclaimed as it proudly displayed a pair of earrings carved from what looked like polished stone.

Wilhelm's face fell and he took a step back. A realization began to set in, like a stone in his gut.

The Entity began to rapidly shift through faces, some known to Wilhelm and others that he did not recognize. It spoke in a voice that shifted in tone and pitch.

"Life is a narrow path that one lays the foundations of even as they walk down its length. Each decision branches off into a different direction, and you can never retrace your steps to choose a different branch. Or can you? I can make it so. I can give you any of the lives you forfeited by making the choices that have led you to this moment. And all you have to do is to-"

The vapor took on the shape of the woman from before, and its final words took on that soft, feminine voice it had spoken in.

"-caress me."

Time seemed to grind to a halt. Zakiyah watched intently, still sitting a few feet from Wilhelm. She was studying the Seeker, seemingly ready to make a move.

Wilhelm stared at the phantom of his past love with empty eyes. Could the Entity really be capable of what it had claimed? Was it possible to alter the past? Without even noticing it at first, his hand began to rise, reaching for the Entity.

"NO!" Zakiyah exclaimed and sprung into action. She barreled into Wilhelm, knocking the man off balance and sending him stumbling to the side. She set herself between Wilhelm and the vase on the pedestal. The Entity took on an alien, frightening countenance and hissed.

"Damnable woman! I nearly had him!"

Wilhelm, broken out of his stupor, straightened his back and dusted off his shoulders. He looked at the Entity and then to Zakiyah.

"Thank you." He exhaled, both relief and a hint of melancholy in his voice. "I guess it turns out that I am quite bad with temptation, eh?"

The Entity withdrew back into the vase, its purple haze dissipating into the air. Zakiyah shook her head and sat on the edge of a nearby table.

"I just saved your life, you know. We don't know where that thing takes the people that touch it, but none of them have ever come back." Zakiyah explained.

"And why, pray tell, did you introduce this... Entity to me? I could have lived my life without knowing about something like this. Heavens, as if the Hatelings weren't enough." Wilhelm joined Zakiyah, taking a seat beside her.

"We need to destroy it, Wilhelm." Zakiyah said, looking directly in Wilhelm's eyes. "It is pure evil, perhaps even more so than the Adversary itself. We've tried everything in our power, but the vase seems utterly indestructible.

Wilhelm seemed amused by the comparison to the Adversary, but quickly realized that Zakiyah was being serious.

"Supposing that it is so, why did you summon me? What can I do that you and your guild can not?"

Zakiyah rose to her feet, straightening her robes.

"Well, we have a certain...idea, that we would like to propose to you. Though I suspect you will not like it."

Wilhelm looked at Zakiyah, his interest piqued.

"Let's hear it, then." He stated, and hopped off the table.

"There is a certain sorcerer that you have been able to track down in the past..." Zakiyah began.

Wilhelm sighed.

"You're right. I already don't like this."