Natalya's Epiphany

Life, Milestone

Natalya experiences her epiphany while on a job in Gornoslav, Lenisily.

As Natalya made her way into Gornoslav the streets grew darker. Natalya realized she hadn't been this far north before. She was up near the mines. She had spent most of her time in the southern parts of Lenisily. It was late in the night and a crescent moon hung above her casting dark shadows around her from the dead trees and jagged mountains. Natalya wore a dark, hooded cloak over her KAV uniform. She had a target. A potentially dangerous one. Supposedly one of the guards up here had been trading information with one of the families in Wrenchrise. Her job was simple. Take him out. No clean up necessary. Just get in and get out, and of course, leave the signed sentence from King Staladin. She noticed a weird smell as she got closer into town and noticed lots of smoke. She made her way past it though and made it to a small house on the docks. She moved silently and blended seamlessly into the shadows. She made it the house and gracefully leapt up and swung into a window. She looked around. The room was mostly dark except for the fireplace. She saw her target sleeping on a cot next to it. Too easy. She thought as she moved gracefully across the room. She hesitated for a brief moment as she looked down at the high elf sleeping peacefully. She took a deep, silent breath before she slit his throat as quickly and smoothly as she could manage. She hated it when her targets suffered. She wiped the dagger off and left the sentence on his bedside table. Staladin's giant signature loomed on the page in bright golden ink that reflected brightly in the light from the fire. She swiftly swung back through the window and made her way casually back onto the street. She noticed the smoke overhead had become thicker and left a gross, smelly haze over the mostly empty town. She only saw a couple of people roaming the streets. Mostly guards or soldiers. Occasionally she saw a couple of miners or peasants hurriedly trying to get through the streets. Suddenly she heard a muffled scream between two dingy barns and turned to see a guard raping a peasant woman. Natalya looked down and kept moving knowing there was nothing she could do but understanding the woman's pain. She kept walking and the smell kept getting worse. She looked into the sky and saw the smoke coming from a clearing deep in the dead forest. She knew she should get back to the compound but she was curious. She quietly moved through the trees and thick dark smoke until she reached the clearing. When she looked down into the clearing her heart was seized with horror. She saw a massive hole in the ground full of bodies, mostly half-elves. They were burning in this sickly black and purple fire. Natalya stared in horror at the grotesque sight before her. She suddenly noticed an elf in the smoke, above the pit with his hands to the sky. The high elf had long blonde hair and very elaborate red and purple robes. It took her a moment before realizing it was Staladin himself. She noticed he was surrounded by some KAV soldiers and Natalya thought she could make out Pufuktin's beard poking out from under his hood. She assumed they were the other higher ups and generals. She felt her heart freeze in fear. She wasn't supposed to see this. She stealthily backed away and headed back toward the streets. She moved quickly and tried not to linger for fear that Pufuktin would have seen her. She made it back onto the streets and headed south. She realized if she cut through one of the dead forests she could make it to the southern outpost fairly quickly. She hoped Dimitri was there. She made her way into the dark forest and felt the wind start to pick up. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself. As she felt the air grow colder around herself she felt tears start to come into her eyes making her vision blurry. She couldn't believe how awful the things she had seen tonight were. She tripped over a log and fell into the snow. As she hit the ground her quiet tears turned to sobs. This was too far. She had always despised Pufuktin for being the monster he was to her but she never imagined that the king himself was leading this cruel crusade. That her king and government truly did not care about their citizens. That they were slaughtering innocent people like pigs. She cried for hours until she felt the sun start to rise and snow started to fall from the sky. She looked up at the glowing sky over the mountains in the east and felt a rather large snowflake fall into her hand. She looked down at its beautiful intricacies and felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and sadness wash over her. Suddenly, it all made sense in a way it hadn't before. That the world she lived in depended on her. It depended on individuals to do the right things. It depended on good. It depended on bad. That things were far more complicated than they seemed. That evil did exist and that somewhere there was a balance to be struck. That the world worked in a very complex way and that her part in it was essential. That she had more of a choice than she thought she did. As she looked down at the snowflake starting to melt against her skin she decided she couldn't just sit back anymore. That she couldn't continue to take innocent lives. That she had to do something. That she had to play a card. She just hoped it would be the right one at the right time.