Truth

My Katrin ears pointed as I heard the twig snap. In an instant, I was looking from the shadows. ...Nothing It must have been my mind. Since I was outcast, I wasn't as mentally sharp. My fears were shattered, however, as I turned and found someone in my face. I instinctively unsheathed my blade, ready to attack...

He smiled at me, he obviously had an idea... Which was rare. Harans. He told me to follow, never explaining why. He grinned, as I looked upon our destinination...

The Circus. We snuck through easily, for we were adept in the ways of stealth, We stopped just as a little happy child skipped into the room. Zant's grin just widened. He held up the child, a silent scream escaped the victims mouth.

I unsheathed my blade and drew it, ready to strike.... Then came the light. Time froze as the light blinded me, and I hissed in displeasure. A divine goddess walked toward me, her beauty blinded me more than her light. It was the Star Goddess, Tatianna.

I considered her warning, but payed little attention to it. She looked at me, a pure innocence in her eyes made me feel something I've never felt before... Compassion.

Time flowed again My blade inches away from my victim's neck. I lunged my off hand so I could stop the blade, knocking it to the ground. Zant peered at me, a confused look in his eye... He shrugged it off, and finished the job. I hung my head in shame as we walked out. I thought to myself... Why?

I hung my head in shame... Why had I listened to her? Why had I not killed the child? All of these questions were swirling through my head. I had once been a cold-hearted, unpassionate killer... what had happened?

I walked up to my Brother's room. He could help me. I found Xodus Mentor, Lord of Mists sitting at his desk, contemplating something. He always was. I stood there for a few minutes... waiting for him to look up. But nothing happened. I finally took one step towards him. I opened my mouth and he silenced me by putting up his hand. He had known about it all along. How? I don't know... Zant hadn't told him... nobody did. You see, my brother has a certain 6th sense that about things like that. He knew I was having problems, he knew me well. He beckoned me to his desk and told me to sit. I knew my brother would help me, he always did. He reared back and slapped me in the face.

"What were you thinking???" He spat. "How could you do such a thing? You know the name Mentor is synonymous with evil!"

"You do not understand the implications of your actions!!! You have brought a weakness to the name of Mentor!!"

I did not understand... he was my brother. He had to get where I was coming from.

"You were the son of my mortal father whom I am not related to. He left my mother and had an affair with some street tramp, and had you."

"I only kept you originally as a toy I could use to hone my skills on. But, like a fool, I grew to like you."

It was all coming clear to me now... the realness of what I had called my "Family" had been shattered.

I didn't show one sign of the terrible torment I was feeling inside me... a skill I had been taught by my older brother.

"I will give you one chance to leave. To stay out of my sight forever. Do not come near me. You are a dishonor to the name of Mentor. A dishonor that will no longer be tolerated."

"The times we had were good, and I will not forget what you taught me." I told him.

Impossibly fast, I felt the hilt of his scimitar shatter my jaw. I knew from that moment, I was on my own. I was no longer Vortin Mentor, the Nightmare. I am now, and forever Vortin D'Marthe, NightWalker of Truth.

I sat there... alone. Alone... for the first time in over 2 centuries I was alone. The feeling was unbearable.... The very thought that my own brother... my own family... no longer wanted me. I sat in a shaded corner of an alley in the City of Shadows, contemplating my own existence. "What place is this," I thought aloud, "that I call home? These are my people, by skin, and by heritage, but I am no kin to them. They are lost and ever will be. How many others are like me, I wonder?" I whispered to myself, taking one final look at the city that shunned me.

"Good-bye Xodus!" I cried, my voice rising in final defiance. "My brother, my teacher... my friend. Take heart, as do I, that when we meet again, in a life after this, I will be looking down upon you as you will be in the hellfire that the rest of our "family" will be doomed to endure!"

I started off, leaving the shadow-ridden city that had once been my home. It would be the last time I ever stepped foot in that city again. As I left the entrance, I thought of who I had left... who I could depend on... who would always be there for me. My yellow feline eyes brightened as I remembered! Seluctruh! He would be there for me! He always was! I sat down and started to pray, pray that he would come to me... pray that he would answer. To my elation, a swirling black mist appeared before me. It was the Dark Lord, Seluctruh.

I bowed to him, and explained him my predicament. He would help me where all others shunned me. He thought for a minute, and started to reply... I turned my full attention to my lord and master... I would do as he said, he was always right.

This was who I had given my life to? This... this... wicked being who would not help his most loyal follower?

I did not understand, I had prayed to him every night, and sacrificed every kill I made to him.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" he bellowed, "You... you repulse me. I have nothing more to say to you Vortin D'Marthe. As of this moment, consider yourself... Forsaken."

I slumped in my barstool in a shadowed corner of the Blackened Dagger Tavern. This is what I was left to... I had nothing... The ale was my only friend. I damned myself for letting my former brother make me a creature of the darkness... how I wanted to end my own life right now. I unsheathed my blade, thinking that killing others would almost be as good as killing myself. I snuck up to Redeye, the Barkeep, ready to strike...

"What do you want from me?" I cried. "Do you see what I have become? I am a nothing. I have lost my family, and my deity. Are you here to shun me again? Plant something else in my mind? Ruin my life even more?"

She smiled a comforting smile, and moved towards me. "I have been watching you Vortin... Watching your inner torment as you tried to defy your people. You have shown yourself to be noble beyond your years."

I could not believe it... the one person I had been taught my whole life to hate... was helping me.... even accepting me. I knew what I had to do... even though it went against everything I had ever learned... I knew it was right.

I got down to one knee and bowed low. "Star Goddess, Tatianna... It would be my finest honor if you would accept me as a follower of light."

A bright smile formed on her ever-beautiful face. "Yes," she said, "it would bring me great joy to accept one who was as troubled as you." For the first time in my life... I knew what it was to feel true happiness. You see, happiness was not in obtaining the greatest of weapons... happiness was not killing a ferocious dragon... happiness was knowing you made the correct decision. I am now, and forever a NightWalker of Truth. Preserving the light... and vanquishing the darkness that had once had it's suffocating grasp on me.

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