Post by Tom M on Jun 7, 2024 13:56:38 GMT
Co-written with Jaezred Vandree
(After The Intervention.)
There is an anxious knock on the door. Keros finishes hanging his shield up on the wall and goes to answer it. “We have been over this. I am perfectly happy not having a god who— Jaezred. Of course.”
A breathless and slightly frayed-looking Jaezred steps inside, closing the door behind him. “Keros,” he gasps. “Apologies for dropping in like this. I came as soon as I had time; the situation in Kundar was… Gods.” He pauses to tuck a stray strand of hair away from his face. “Anyway, I have something important to tell you.”
“Is it about saving Kundar or is it about Rae?”
Jaezred’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “About…Rae.”
“Get out.”
He stops in his tracks, utterly stunned. “What? No, Keros, listen to me.” He begins to speak rapidly. “You were onto something about the book. Kyra Stuurm’s diary is cursed. That is why Rae has been behaving erratically.”
“Erratically? You call it ‘erratic’ that we condemned an entire city and they fucking laughed, Jaezred?”
“W…What?”
“Everything going on right now and they went straight back to their research with a skip in their step. You want to blame magic? Whatever helps you sleep at night, but you and I are the ones who created this. We took someone with limitless potential and shielded them from every consequence and every lesson they needed to learn until…this happened."
Keros grits his teeth as he lowers his voice, "All I can hear are the screams, Jaezred. People who could not run. Children… And they laughed.”
There are a hundred things Jaezred would like to say at that moment. That the curse has distorted Rae’s personality. That Rae plunged into this research to find a way to save Keros. That Keros knows Rae better than anyone and surely he must know that they aren’t a monster.
But he looks into Keros’s furious eyes and he knows that those excuses would fall flat. He tries one final pitch. “You told me you want to stop sitting on your hands and do something right,” he pleads in a quiet voice. “So here I am, giving you something to do. Rae needs help, Keros, from the people who love them the most.”
Keros sits down on his bed and puts his face in his hands. “No. What is right is being ready to fix this mess and to save as many as I can. All I can do for Rae is mourn the person they once were.”
The silence in the small bedroom is thick and heavy. Jaezred stands seemingly rooted to the floor. The master web-weaver has all but disappeared, leaving only a man, devastated and lost.
After a long time, he finally speaks, his confident baritone reduced to a small murmur. “Be well, Keros.”
When Keros looks up again, all that’s left of Jaezred is a door creaking slowly shut.
(After The Intervention.)
There is an anxious knock on the door. Keros finishes hanging his shield up on the wall and goes to answer it. “We have been over this. I am perfectly happy not having a god who— Jaezred. Of course.”
A breathless and slightly frayed-looking Jaezred steps inside, closing the door behind him. “Keros,” he gasps. “Apologies for dropping in like this. I came as soon as I had time; the situation in Kundar was… Gods.” He pauses to tuck a stray strand of hair away from his face. “Anyway, I have something important to tell you.”
“Is it about saving Kundar or is it about Rae?”
Jaezred’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “About…Rae.”
“Get out.”
He stops in his tracks, utterly stunned. “What? No, Keros, listen to me.” He begins to speak rapidly. “You were onto something about the book. Kyra Stuurm’s diary is cursed. That is why Rae has been behaving erratically.”
“Erratically? You call it ‘erratic’ that we condemned an entire city and they fucking laughed, Jaezred?”
“W…What?”
“Everything going on right now and they went straight back to their research with a skip in their step. You want to blame magic? Whatever helps you sleep at night, but you and I are the ones who created this. We took someone with limitless potential and shielded them from every consequence and every lesson they needed to learn until…this happened."
Keros grits his teeth as he lowers his voice, "All I can hear are the screams, Jaezred. People who could not run. Children… And they laughed.”
There are a hundred things Jaezred would like to say at that moment. That the curse has distorted Rae’s personality. That Rae plunged into this research to find a way to save Keros. That Keros knows Rae better than anyone and surely he must know that they aren’t a monster.
But he looks into Keros’s furious eyes and he knows that those excuses would fall flat. He tries one final pitch. “You told me you want to stop sitting on your hands and do something right,” he pleads in a quiet voice. “So here I am, giving you something to do. Rae needs help, Keros, from the people who love them the most.”
Keros sits down on his bed and puts his face in his hands. “No. What is right is being ready to fix this mess and to save as many as I can. All I can do for Rae is mourn the person they once were.”
The silence in the small bedroom is thick and heavy. Jaezred stands seemingly rooted to the floor. The master web-weaver has all but disappeared, leaving only a man, devastated and lost.
After a long time, he finally speaks, his confident baritone reduced to a small murmur. “Be well, Keros.”
When Keros looks up again, all that’s left of Jaezred is a door creaking slowly shut.