Post by Deraj on Jul 11, 2013 23:26:38 GMT -5
"You are completely mad."
The words seemed to echo in his mind as Judas, Jolicia, Elendome and James walked through a moongate with an alarmingly familiar body sprawled across a horse. Was Elen right? Had he lost his mind? Was everyone else right, and it was indeed the very corpse of Aingeal that he had inspected so closely? The similarity was uncanny... even he, for more than a few moments, felt a tinge of doubt, and behind it, the looming feeling of dread and overwhelming sadness. Truly, he was alone in his beliefs. A few turn of the pages in his runebook, and in a moment he was standing before the Kirk. The sense of calm of this place brought him at least a little peace, but could not dispel the disturbing thoughts racing throughout his mind.
As he sat upon the bench in the chapel, the image of Shelley's death played out in his mind. It played again. And again. Each time he tried desperately to search every detail he could muster in his mind for something.. anything. Standing hardly a foot away from her, he watched her die. It was all so real.. her death, so very real. Yet it was not until much later he learned that it was merely a puppet. A puppet! he thought incredulously. A puppet that speaks? A puppet that breathes? A puppet that bleeds?
He was there. He had seen the evidence for himself. He had not seen Shelley since - for all he knew, she was the dead woman in the Tanner's Shop in Vesper. Yet everyone else believed she was alive - and some were willing to be captured, or according to the common perception, be killed - to save her.
The evidence was compelling, but he couldn't - no, wouldn't - believe that they were dead. He would refuse. There was only a grim hope within him that they lived. They had to live. Deraj was not sure what might become of him if they did not. Reich was an evil man, but not in some base sense. He was not evil because he killed, or lied, or performed misdeeds. Evil, Deraj pondered, does not consist of simple sins, no matter how emotionally jarring. What is truly evil, is that which preys on the virtues of men. It comes to know a man and his virtues, and manipulates him so that the only virtuous path leads into his own grave, thereby compelling a man to abandon them altogether. It is true evil for it makes virtue impossible. And by making virtue impossible, it makes civilization impossible. Should a man go to his grave solely for the sake of adhering to mindless guidelines for 'proper living'? I would certainly think not! Deraj thought. No, they had to be alive, for his sake, their sake, and for the sake of those that would seek the eight virtues - or any virtues, for that matter. It will be a dark day for Randall Reich if they are dead.
After watching Shelley die, he might have called them all mad had they said she was alive. Now, he claims the dead body before him is alive and receives nothing but reproach. The irony of it all might have been amusing were it not so... maddening.
The words seemed to echo in his mind as Judas, Jolicia, Elendome and James walked through a moongate with an alarmingly familiar body sprawled across a horse. Was Elen right? Had he lost his mind? Was everyone else right, and it was indeed the very corpse of Aingeal that he had inspected so closely? The similarity was uncanny... even he, for more than a few moments, felt a tinge of doubt, and behind it, the looming feeling of dread and overwhelming sadness. Truly, he was alone in his beliefs. A few turn of the pages in his runebook, and in a moment he was standing before the Kirk. The sense of calm of this place brought him at least a little peace, but could not dispel the disturbing thoughts racing throughout his mind.
As he sat upon the bench in the chapel, the image of Shelley's death played out in his mind. It played again. And again. Each time he tried desperately to search every detail he could muster in his mind for something.. anything. Standing hardly a foot away from her, he watched her die. It was all so real.. her death, so very real. Yet it was not until much later he learned that it was merely a puppet. A puppet! he thought incredulously. A puppet that speaks? A puppet that breathes? A puppet that bleeds?
He was there. He had seen the evidence for himself. He had not seen Shelley since - for all he knew, she was the dead woman in the Tanner's Shop in Vesper. Yet everyone else believed she was alive - and some were willing to be captured, or according to the common perception, be killed - to save her.
The evidence was compelling, but he couldn't - no, wouldn't - believe that they were dead. He would refuse. There was only a grim hope within him that they lived. They had to live. Deraj was not sure what might become of him if they did not. Reich was an evil man, but not in some base sense. He was not evil because he killed, or lied, or performed misdeeds. Evil, Deraj pondered, does not consist of simple sins, no matter how emotionally jarring. What is truly evil, is that which preys on the virtues of men. It comes to know a man and his virtues, and manipulates him so that the only virtuous path leads into his own grave, thereby compelling a man to abandon them altogether. It is true evil for it makes virtue impossible. And by making virtue impossible, it makes civilization impossible. Should a man go to his grave solely for the sake of adhering to mindless guidelines for 'proper living'? I would certainly think not! Deraj thought. No, they had to be alive, for his sake, their sake, and for the sake of those that would seek the eight virtues - or any virtues, for that matter. It will be a dark day for Randall Reich if they are dead.
After watching Shelley die, he might have called them all mad had they said she was alive. Now, he claims the dead body before him is alive and receives nothing but reproach. The irony of it all might have been amusing were it not so... maddening.