Turning the Tides
“Shayla? What are you doing!?”
The purple-robed Necromancer didn’t turn to face her friend. She stood, arms raised, poised and ready to recite the incantation. Freshly dug graves littered the ground at her feet. Her stance was defiant, her body tensed. But her voice, when she spoke, came out soft and low.
“Don’t try to stop me Ezara. I have to do this.”
The night was dark, and for a long while all was silent. A light breeze stirred Shayla’s hair and ruffled the feathers on Ezara’s wings. But it seemed as if there were more than mere space and silence separating the two companions. Despite their nearness, they had never felt further apart than they did in that moment. Finally, Ezara broke the silence. His voice was grave, full of regret but also determination.
“I can’t let you do this. I won’t stand for it… we’ll find another way!”
“No, Ezara, there is no other way. You know it, and I know it.” Shayla lowered her arms slowly to her sides and turned her head just enough to look over her shoulder at the angel standing behind her. What she saw made her wince. Her gentle friend stood facing her, holy great sword in hand. But Shayla didn’t back down. “The city is under siege, and we don’t have the strength of numbers that they do. And our fighters are weak.”
Shayla turned then, and met Ezara’s steely gaze with equal determination. Her emerald eyes flashed with passion and her voice became more heated.
“You don’t need to eat, Ezara, but we’ve been under siege for weeks! And we can’t keep sending the few soldiers we have left out there to die. I’m not going to sit here and wait for a miracle anymore. If we want the tides to turn in our favour, we’re going to have to do it for ourselves.”
Ezara’s voice wavered, he hated seeing his trusted friend squared off against him. Hated being on opposite sides. Wished that she had made better choices… “What you are about to do is wrong. It’s evil, and unnatural, and you’re destroying your own soul!” He pleaded with his friend, begging her to come back into the light.
In that moment, Shayla gave Ezara a look of such sadness and conviction that it tore at his heart to see it.
“You’re absolutely right, Ezara.” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper, but his angel ears heard the words clearly. “It is wrong, and it is evil. And I most certainly am about to do it.” She paused to take a deep, steadying breath. “ I… I already know what’s going to happen to my soul,” the words weren’t entirely a lie… and she didn’t let Ezara see how much she actually feared for her afterlife. “and that’s why I’m here to make those choices that nobody else would be able to live with. I’m willing to take that burden because sometimes… good people have to do bad things. For the greater good.”
“But this?” Ezara’s voice cracked with emotion as he surveyed their surroundings. The scent of moist earth was all around them, and freshly upturned soil. They were in the makeshift graveyard where the casualties of war had been buried. “Disturbing these poor souls who died in defense of their city? Let them rest in peace…”
Shayla heaved a sigh. She had to make Ezara understand!
“These soldiers died defending their city, but knowing it was a lost cause. They would want to know that their last act, even in death, would be to put up a stand and save Sunnyside. You know we won’t win without them.”
Shayla raised her arms once more and tilted her head back, looking to the dark night sky. She took a deep breath, ready to shout her incantation for the world to hear. Ezara’s voice cut her off only one more time.
“You know I’ll have to destroy them, Shayla. I can’t let these abominations exist.”
She gave him one last look, and it was a sad smile.
“Of course you’ll kill them. Because it’s the right thing to do.”
She paused.
“But we both know you won’t do it until the battle is done. I know you, Ezara. And you’ll put the safety of the citizens first.”
Crackling negative energy filled the air and a heavy wind whipped up as she shouted her incantation to the heavens. And the ground beneath her feet came to life.